Business Halacha Daily

Hosted by Bais Havaad

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957

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Jun 2026

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About the show

Business Halacha Daily is a program with daily 3-5 minute "nuggets" on the topic of the week. They are practical questions that come up related to that topic, with a dayan there to answer and explain the reasoning.

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60 recent

June 16, 20263 min

If Someone’s Taxes Are Charged to Someone Else, Must He Reimburse Him?

Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at info@baishavaad.org Rav Yosef Greenwald, Rav of K’hal Dexter ParkQuestion: Reuven and Shimon are business partners. Due to a clerical error on behalf of the IRS, Reuven’s personal taxes were charged to the partnership. Can Shimon demand that Reuven reimburse the business for the money that he should have paid individually? Answer: The Gemara talks about a case where the king’s tax collectors take taxes from from grain that was not yet tithed, in lieu of money that was the owner was really supposed to pay. The Gemara says that even though the owner didn’t really gain anything new – as he merely didn’t have to give away some of his money – and he didn’t actually take anything from maaser – as the tax collectors took the money, not him – he still is liable to reimburse the amount of the maaser. This chiyuv is called “mishtarshi”. The Ketzos Hachoshen explains that mishtarshi means that because one person’s bottom line is bigger than it otherwise would have been because of his friend’s expenditure or loss, it is considered as if the friend now owns part of his assets; therefore, the beneficiary will have to reimburse him the full amount that he lost because of him. Based on this rule, Reuven would be liable to reimburse the partnership for the money he gained by not paying his personal taxes.

June 15, 20263 min

If Someone Accidentally Eats Someone Else’s Package of Food, Is He Liable to Pay?

Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at info@baishavaad.org Rav Yosef Greenwald, Rav of K’hal Dexter ParkQuestion: A gift package of food is delivered to someone’s office. Assuming it’s for him, the person eats it. Afterwards, he discovers it was meant for the office next door. Does he have to pay for the food he ate?Answer: If it was an honest mistake that was no fault of his own, he is not liable as a mazik or a gazlan. However, he still is not fully exempt from liability.The Gemara discusses a case where someone inherits a barn full of cows from his father. He assumes all of the cows belonged to his father and he slaughters and eats one of them. Unbeknownst to him, that cow belonged to someone else and was only being kept in his father’s barn. The Gemara says that although the son is not a mazik, he is still liable because he derived enjoyment from someone else’s property. He does not have to pay the full market value of the cow, but he has to pay the value of the pleasure he had. Chazal assessed this to be two-thirds of what the meat would have fetched in the market. So too, in this case the man who ate his neighbor’s food would be liable to pay that basic amount. Question: Who does he have to pay that amount to? The man who the package was intended for or the one who sent the package? Answer: If it was a package that the office next door paid for, he would have to pay them. If they weren’t paying for it, he would have to pay whoever did lay out the money for it.

June 10, 20262 min

Can a Resident of a Housing Development Force All His Neighbors to Contribute to a Fence Around His Pool?

Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at info@baishavaad.org Rav Shmuel HonigwachsQuestion: Reuven lives in a development where the houses are situated fairly close together and everyone has windows that face each other’s yards. One day, he decides that he wants to install a swimming pool in his backyard. Can he force all of his neighbors to either seal their windows or contribute towards the building of a fence?Answer: We previously discussed a case where two people purchase a property from one person, and they split the property into two. We mentioned that there is a disagreement between the Mechaber and Rema whether one of them can force the other to close off his windows due to hezek riya. We said that although the Rema rules that they can force each to close off any windows facing into their courtyards, we cannot force people today to do so since hezek riya is not such a concern for contemporary backyards.Regarding swimming pools, however, where there is a genuine concern of hezek riya, it stands to reason that the Rema’s ruling could be enforced and the neighbors could be forced to seal their windows or contribute towards the building of a mechitzah.This may seem like an interesting conclusion, and truth be told I have not seen this ever being enforced, but that seems to be the halacha.

June 9, 20262 min

Does Hezek Riya Apply When Both Neighbors Bought Their Homes From Non-Jews?

Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at info@baishavaad.org Rav Shmuel HonigwachsQuestion: In the last segment, we discussed a case where one neighbor purchases a home from a non-Jew. What if both neighbors bought their houses from non-Jews? How would that impact issues of hezek riya?Answer: If both neighbors originally purchased their homes from non-Jews, as long as the window existed beforehand, the halacha is that Reuven doesn’t have any rights to force Feivel to do anything that he couldn’t force John to do.This is actually the most common scenario with pools, as most neighborhoods that are built for Jews do not contain pools. Thus, in the common case where two neighbors purchased their homes from non-Jews, neither would be able to force their neighbor to close off a window. The laws of hezek riya would only apply if one of them wants to make a new window. Any window that existed before the homes were purchased from the non-Jews is permitted to remain. Of course, to stand and view the private affairs of a neighbor is always forbidden.

June 8, 20262 min

If a Jew Buys a House From a Non-Jew, Does He Have to Close Off a Window That Faces His Neighbor’s Pool?

Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at info@baishavaad.org Rav Shmuel HonigwachsQuestion: Reuven has a pool in his backyard. His neighbor, John, is a non-Jew, who obviously has no reservations about being the cause of hezek riya. John is now selling his house to a Jew. The new neighbor, Feivel, moves in and Reuven tells him that because his window faces Reuven’s pool, there is a problem of hezek riya and Feivel has to either close off the window or pay to build a fence. Is Reuven correct?Answer: The Gemara says that a Jew who buys a house from a non-Jew has the same rules as the non-Jew he bought the house from. The Poskim debate whether this means that he gets the same halachic disadvantages of the non-Jew, or if he also gets the potential advantages as well. According to the opinion that he gets the advantages of the non-Jew, Feivel would not have to close off his window, just like the non-Jew could not be required to do that. According to the opinion that the Jew only gets the disadvantages of the non-Jew, however, he would be required to close off the window.The Rema rules that the Jew gets the advantages of the non-Jew, but the Shulchan Aruch disagrees and rules that he does not. Practically speaking, Reuven probably would not be able to force Feivel to close off his window.

June 4, 20262 min

If I Make a Pool in My Backyard, Can I Force My Neighbor to Close Off an Existing Window in His House?

Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at info@baishavaad.org Rav Shmuel HonigwachsQuestion: Chaim is building a pool in his backyard. His neighbor has an existing window that faced his yard. Now that the swimming pool is being built, the window will overlook the pool. Until now, when it just provided a view of the backyard, the window was no big deal. Now that he is making a pool, however, Chaim wants to force his neighbor to either close off his window or pay for a mechitzah to block the view of the pool. Is he able to do this? Answer: The general rule regarding hezek riya is that if a window is facing a neighbor’s yard for a few years and he doesn’t complain, a chazakah is established and the window is permitted to remain as it is. Some Poskim hold that even if someone opens a new window and his neighbor doesn’t say anything, a chazakah is established to allow the window to be there. However, it seems that the halacha would be different in this case because the neighbor’s window did not really harm Chaim until this point. Until now, it was only facing a backyard and, as we previously stated, the common minhag seems to be that we do have windows overlooking other people’s yards. Accordingly, it is understandable why Chaim did not object until now, which means that the neighbor did not establish a chazakah to do anything that might harm Chaim. Now that Chaim is making a swimming pool, and there is an issue of genuine hezek riya, he could force the neighbor to pay for a mechitzah or to close off his window.

June 2, 20262 min

Is One Allowed to Sue In Court to Have a Neighbor’s Building Variance Revoked?

Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at info@baishavaad.org Rav Shmuel HonigwachsQuestion: Reuven needed a variance for a construction project. His neighbor, Shimon, claimed that he would be negatively impacted by that variance. He went to the zoning board and tried to stop it but the board ruled in favor of Reuven and granted the variance. Shimon still has one more venue to stop the variance from being adopted, which is to litigate. Is he permitted to go to court and assert his right to have the variance’s approval revoked? Answer: We previously explained that the Maharik says that one has a right to oppose a neighbor’s request for a variance before a zoning board because the neighbor has not obtained what he wants yet. He compares this to a “metziah” and says that everyone has the right to stop someone from getting a metziah. That reasoning would only apply to something that the neighbor doesn’t have yet. If he already received the variance and a neighbor now wants to sue in court to get it revoked, there would be a strong argument to say that the Maharik’s ruling does not apply in that situation; therefore, I would posit that it would not be permitted.

June 1, 20262 min

Can Neighbors Force a Yeshiva to Stain The Windows Facing Their Property?

Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at info@baishavaad.org Rav Shmuel HonigwachsQuestion: We previously said that a neighbor has no standing in bais din to stop a yeshiva from opening in his residential neighborhood. If a yeshiva is building next door to a residential home, does the homeowner at least have a right to demand that they stain the windows facing his property so that the bochurim do not have view into his yard? Answer: We once had a din Torah where someone was opening a shul and said that he can do what wants because of the takanas chochomim that permits building shuls in any area. The neighbors asked that he should at least mitigate the damage by staining the windows and taking some other steps to allow them to retain their privacy. The Poskim I have seen on this topic say that even though you can’t stop a shul from being built, you can force them to spend some extra money to mitigate the damage as much as possible by doing things like staining the windows. That was how we paskened and I believe that is the accepted halacha.

May 28, 20262 min

Can Neighbors Force a Yeshiva to Stain The Windows Facing Their Property?

Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at info@baishavaad.org Can Neighbors Force a Yeshiva to Stain The Windows Facing Their Property?Rav Shmuel HonigwachsQuestion: We previously said that a neighbor has no standing in bais din to stop a yeshiva from opening in his residential neighborhood. If a yeshiva is building next door to a residential home, does the homeowner at least have a right to demand that they stain the windows facing his property so that the bochurim do not have view into his yard? Answer: We once had a din Torah where someone was opening a shul and said that he can do what wants because of the takanas chochomim that permits building shuls in any area. The neighbors asked that he should at least mitigate the damage by staining the windows and taking some other steps to allow them to retain their privacy. The Poskim I have seen on this topic say that even though you can’t stop a shul from being built, you can force them to spend some extra money to mitigate the damage as much as possible by doing things like staining the windows. That was how we paskened and I believe that is the accepted halacha.

May 27, 20262 min

Does Choshen Mishpat Allow a Person to Stop a Yeshiva From Being Built in a Residential Area?

Rav Shmuel HonigwachsQuestion: Yankel lives in a quiet residential area. He lives in a town where it is permitted according to the local laws to build yeshivas even in such an area. Berel wants to build a yeshiva in this neighborhood. Does Yankel have any right according to Choshen Mishpat to stop the yeshiva from opening in his area? Answer: The Gemara in Bava Basra says that even though, generally speaking, one can stop a store from opening in a residential area and bringing in a lot of customers, when it comes to a yeshiva there is a special takanas chachomim that does not permit preventing them from opening. The chachomim made this decree because they wanted places of Torah study to be located in all areas. Accordingly, according to halacha one may not stop anybody from opening a yeshiva in a residential area. The Poskim apply this rule to all mitzvos, such as opening a shul or a bais din. One would also be permitted to open such an institution in a residential area.