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<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:T613K@aol.com">T613K@aol.com</a> wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:%3Cc04.54316aa1.36ae8882@aol.com%3E" type="cite">
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<div><font family="SANSSERIF" ptsize="10" color="#000000" face="Arial"
lang="0" size="2"><font style="background-color: transparent;"
color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2">From: Harvey Benton <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:harveybenton@yahoo.com">harveybenton@yahoo.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
>>Sometimes a married woman finds herself in a situation where
she may need to be secluded with a man who is not her husband. For
instance, if she visits a doctor or dentist, or has a repairman over
her house to fix something.... <<</font></font></div>
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<div><font family="SANSSERIF" ptsize="10" color="#000000" face="Arial"
lang="0" size="2"> </font></div>
<div><font family="SANSSERIF" ptsize="10" color="#000000" face="Arial"
lang="0" size="2">>>>>></font></div>
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lang="0" size="2"> </font></div>
<div><font family="SANSSERIF" ptsize="10" color="#000000" face="Arial"
lang="0" size="2">My understanding is that in her own home, there is
no problem with the occasional man coming in as long as her husband is
not out of town -- "ba'alah ba'ir" -- and could theoretically walk
through the door at any moment (even though she knows he is at work --
but he could still come home unexpectedly, and he does have a key to
his own house!).</font></div>
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lang="0" size="2"> </font></div>
<div><font family="SANSSERIF" ptsize="10" color="#000000" face="Arial"
lang="0" size="2">At the doctor's office or dentist's office, it would
be a rare office where the doctor and the patient were the only people
present and there was no chance of a nurse or receptionist coming
through the door. Nevertheless many doctors have a policy of
explicitly asking a nurse to stay in the room with them when they are
examining female patients, in order to protect themselves from wild
accusations made by mentally unbalanced women. Even though I am not
mentally unbalanced and would not make wild accusations against my
doctor, in the unusual case that he does not call in a nurse, I request
that he do so. I simply feel more comfortable with another woman in
the room. I have never known a doctor to hesitate or mind in the
slightest when such a request is made.</font></div>
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lang="0" size="2"> </font></div>
<div><font family="SANSSERIF" ptsize="10" color="#000000" face="Arial"
lang="0" size="2">AFAIK halachically it is not necessary that another
person be present in the room, only that the door is unlocked and other
people are nearby and could theoretically enter.</font></div>
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lang="0" size="2"> </font></div>
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lang="0" size="2"> </font></div>
<div><font family="SANSSERIF" ptsize="10" color="#000000" face="Arial"
lang="0" size="2">The case of a single, divorced or widowed woman,
with no children at home, who needs a repairman -- that is more
difficult. I guess that leaving the front door open would help, or
calling in a neighbor. </font></div>
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lang="0" size="2"> </font></div>
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<font color="#000000"><font size="2"><font face="Arial">This could also
be a situation where the husband isn't in the city, and that doesn't
just have to mean he's traveling. According to sefer Minchat Ish on
Hilchot Yichud, ba'alah ba'ir applies to areas that people call by the
same city name. This leads to the rather paradoxical situation that one
rabbi in Chicago whose shul is a half mile away from his home, on the
Evanston side of the Evanston-Chicago border, would not be ba'ir if his
wife were expecting a repairman and he was at shul. On the other hand
if he were over 20 miles away on the Chicago side of the south border
of the city he would be ba'ir.<br>
<br>
Besides that, wouldn't the repairman also have to have ishto imo, not
just ba'ir? (Or does either of these halachot suffice to permit yichud?)<br>
<br>
--Ken<br>
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