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Helping to Carry a Stroller

In regards to helping a young woman carry her baby’s stroller together with her up a large set of stairs, where she can get up the stairs by herself by bumping it up each stair at a time, but it would be a great help to her for you to help her: Do we say that this is the polite thing to do like saying hello – and even more than polite, it’s even a big mitzvah and chesed? Or do we say, no, precisely because it’s such a big help, it’s much more than a polite hello, and it’s better to let her get up the stairs on her own? And that although it’s true that it would be good for her if you were to help her, but it’s also good for her and for you for klal yisrael’s kedusha v’taharah to remain on a higher level.

Answer:

As a general direction it is certainly right to help the person in need of assistance (in keeping with the mitzvah of hakem takem imo), whether the person is a man or a woman.

It is true that for some circumstances and some people this might cause him/her some discomfort. In this case, it would be best to simply take the stroller up the stairs on one’s own, without her, and thereby help out without causing discomfort.

Helping out a lady should not affect one’s “kedusha”. If doing so will bring a person to improper thoughts, he should however avoid it — though in helping a lady carry a stroller the issue of improper thoughts really ought not to arise.

Best wishes.

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