חדש באתר: NotebookLM עם כל תכני הרב מיכאל אברהם

Q&A: A Question in Monetary Law and Interpersonal Ethics

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This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.

A Question in Monetary Law and Interpersonal Ethics

Question

Hello Rabbi,
I am currently on a mission in a Jewish community abroad with two other friends; all of us are 23 years old. Before we arrived here, we were supposed to live in a 3-room apartment that the community rents for the emissaries, but because of technical reasons we arrived a few months late. During that time, two young women doing national service, who also work here in the community, moved into the apartment. They had originally been supposed to live in the guesthouse of one of the families, but since we didn’t arrive, they moved into the apartment intended for us. Right now a situation has arisen in which the guesthouse is no longer an option, and there is a possibility of living with an elderly couple who have two spare rooms in their house (on a separate floor). The community is giving us the option to decide whether to move into the original apartment—which would involve moving the girls to the other house—or to let them stay and have us ourselves live (more cramped) with that family. On the one hand, there are considerations of convenience related to the distance from the synagogue, considerations somewhat like a mistaken transaction (for example, I flew here on the assumption that I would have a separate place, privacy, etc., and I’m not sure I would have agreed from the outset to live in a family’s home), and of course the fact that the two of them are living in a 3-room apartment while we would have to crowd in more. On the other hand, it feels very unpleasant to move them out of an apartment they’ve already settled into, and it seems this would upset them מאוד, and in addition they argue that as women they would feel less comfortable than we would living on their own with a family from the community. We haven’t really been able to reach a decision among ourselves about whether to go beyond the letter of the law and give it up, or whether it is justified to insist on the current plan. I myself don’t really know what is right and moral to do in this situation, and whether there is something wrong with asking them to make the concession because of all the reasons above. I wanted to ask whether, in the Rabbi’s opinion, there is some halakhic way to decide a situation like this, and even if not, what the Rabbi thinks is the right thing to do.
Thank you very much in advance!

Answer

From the standpoint of Jewish law, it is clear that if the apartment is designated for you, there is no problem with requesting it for yourselves. Morally, there is no sweeping answer here. Simply speaking, a person is not obligated to give up his rights in order to spare someone else discomfort. It depends on how difficult it is for you and for them, and you need to decide that based on the circumstances.

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