Now Door Locks Not Kosher? New ‘Ban’ Issued
Prominent Hasidic and Lithuanian Ultra-Orthodox rabbis are demanding that public institutions avoid installing self-locking door handles, which make it impossible to open rooms’ doors from the outside.
According to the rabbis, such a situation causes men and women to violate the “Yichud” prohibition – the seclusion of a man and a woman who are not married to each other in a private area.
Rabbis Shmuel Wosner and Nissim Karelitz, the most senior “poskei Halacha” (arbiters of Jewish Law) in the Ashkenazi Orthodox public, have determined that such doors are considered locked even if no human action has been taken to lock them, and that therefore men and women must be careful not to be left alone behind them.
‘Don’t use lock mechanism’
A warning published by the “Halacha Watch”, a body sponsored by the two rabbis’ tribunals, argued that late Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, “the generation’s great posek,” had also warned against this halachic obstacle which can be found in clinics, workplaces, etc.
“Recently-introduced door handles almost seem like regular handles from the outside, and the handles can be shifted from the outside as well, but they an automatic electrical locking that prevents the door from being opened form the outside,” the ad explained.
“There is a ‘Yichud’ prohibition, and whoever is familiar with these handles could recognize them by paying attention.”
The “Halacha Watch” called on the public to avoid using this locking mechanism, both in entry doors and in internal rooms, so as not to create an obstacle. It invited “places with special needs” to contact its people “in order to reach a proper solution.”
The proposed solutions include keeping the door slightly open.
mom in ch
I agree and do you know who else is in danger- our kids! they can accidentally lock themselves in a room and have no way out! or someone could bring someone into a room and no one could answer their screams for help.
hevel varik
So basically, Rabbonnim say we should be aware of locked doors with respect to yichud, and this ynet posts about a ‘ban’, and we get to read the hyperventilation on crownheights.info.
Bagels
So then if I want to eat a bagel I shouldn’t have it with these locks. Makes sense.
how
how bored are people ?????????????????
Shabbos Issue Too
These types of locks pose an issue for shabbos as well, as they have a built in sensor to detect if door is locked or unlocked, by unlocking the door manually you are causing the lock to register that it has just been opened and needs to close after a certain amount of time. Buyer beware!
moshe
some rabbonim are bored…nothing to do with their life.
yankel
If only general petraus would have seen this article before …
Milhouse
#1, What are you talking about? They can easily get OUT, the problem is getting IN.
Um, they-re right
Why the freak-attack?!
eh..
Milhouse, you don’t have little kids do you?
Agree with #1, well, sort of.
little kids are prone to locking themselves into rooms… not safe. and prone to ignoring instructions.
Yeah, big kids can just open the door.
Ari Gold
To #6.
They are very bored with themselves.
to #4
This is what happens when you have entirely too much time on your hands. Really?
Really, the ultra-orthodox keep making up new rules, because they have little else on their minds.
Hocheach Tocheach
To #6 and #11..
Have you no respect!!, these aren’t just some rabbonim with nothing to do this is Rabbi Shmuel Wosner shlita and Rabbi Nissim Karelitz shlita. How dare you speak about Gedolei Yisroel in such a way! Do teshuva in this inyan.