Question:
I work in Manhattan so unfortunately, I know the smell of people smoking marijuana. Yesterday I opened the window in my bedroom to get some fresh air and I smelled it in the air. I looked through the alley and saw my young teenage neighbor blowing smoke out of his window, obviously so his parents wouldn’t know.
Do I talk to him about the dangers, do I warn his parents with whom we are very friendly or is it all ossur because of hezek r’ayah?
Answer:
Hello,
This is not an issue of hezek riy’a, which is the prohibition to look into someone else’s windows. Right now the question is if you should talk to the boy’s parents about it or not. Essentially it would be lashon hora l’toeles, however saying something in this situation is risky. You don’t really know what is going on in their house. If he is already smoking it in the house, even in private, it is most probably not theIt could very well be that the parents already know about it, or that there is nothing they can right now do about it and telling them will only exasperate a difficult situation. Therefore, what I would say is not to say anything to the parents. What you can do is befriend the poor boy, because he most probably needs plenty of chizuk.
Best wishes
