How do we apply the Halacha nowadays about opening a window / door opposite your neighbors? Shouldn’t this also apply to not building an apartment with one door opposite the other.
In Eretz Yisroel, it is very common in apartment buildings to have one door opening up opposite to the other persons door? We also find windows opposite the other. Is the Halacha different now adays?
Thanks in Advance.
Answer:
There are two possible reasons for which the halachah, which is mentioned in Rambam (Shecheinim 5:6) and Shulchan Aruch (Choshen Mishpat 144), would not apply with full force today.
One reason is that today’s front doors are usually closed. For doors that are usually open, having one across from another is a problem. For doors that are usually closed, the problem is minimized.
A second reason is that today’s houses have many rooms, and private matters can be taken care of in the inner chambers, and not facing the front door.
Because this is the custom today, it would not be a halachic problem to have doors facing one another.
Sources: See Maharit Tzalhon 253 (concerning the matter of the custom). The question of appartments that are built with one door facing the other is asked by Pischei Choshen, Nezikin and Shecheinim, p. 397 (he leaves the question without answer).
