Q. Recently, I went on a shidduch date. When I came in the apartment, the mother of the young lady was present, as were her two daughters. However, her husband was at work. Is this a yichud situation? I presume (though I can't know for certain) that the husband was somewhere in the city (no idea how far away). Is this considered a situation where the husband is in town, and therefore there is no yichud, or maybe it was yichud because the husband was probably far away and there was no possibility for him to suddenly abandon his job during working hours and come home?
See Shulchan Aruch (E.H. 22: 15) and in the Poskim therein as to how many women are required to avoid a yichud prohibition. Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that if there are two present besides the proposed kalah there is no yichud. Otherwise, the home door should be left unlocked or the meeting should take place in a room with an uncovered window facing the street. If the husband is out of town, a neighbor should be asked to check on the home. An inside security camera could also be set.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a
Important Numbers
