Our neighbour is an almanah who recently also lost one of her married children. She is most of the time housebound. She spends her nights watching TV.
During the summer she leaves the window open and the sound of the TV bothers us. How do we approach her with our complaint in such away that we do not transgress the Torah’s commandment of looking after an almanah?
Answer:
I don’t think a request to lower the volume a little will be offensive. Address her with courtesy and respect, and ask politely if it might be possible to lower the volume a little. An alternative will be to move the TV set to a location further from the window, and you can offer to help with this if there’s a need.
In general, although one must be careful of causing a widow distress, it is also important to engage her in ordinary neighborly interaction, and perhaps even to invite her round for meals, and so on.
Good luck!
