When Private Playgroup Poses a Problem
When Private Playgroup Poses a Problem
Halachah states that a single man may not be a melamed (teacher of young children) because of the halachic boundaries that may be breached by regular interactions with the children’s mothers who come there. A married melamed (whose wife would usually be home or around town) does not encounter the same problem. A woman, however, should not teach young children whether she is single or married, because yichud (halachically proscribed seclusion of males and females) situations may arise when fathers come for pickups, drop-offs, forgotten lunchboxes and conferences.
A Public Education
Single melamdim (and women teachers of any status) are hired without restriction these days, however, and one of the heterim (dispensations) employed is that schools are no longer in private homes but in public buildings where other teachers and members of the administration are always around (a dispensation of yotze v’nichnas in instances that require shmirah—supervision).
However, a woman who runs a playgroup for very young children from her home may still be subject to the gezeiras Chazal (Rabbinic decree) mentioned above concerning the possibility of yichud when fathers enter her home. (A private-home school or daycare of various ages, in contrast, may in fact circumvent the gezeirah according to some opinions, since yichud can be avoided owing to the presence of the older students.)
What are the possible solutions for this situation?
A Home-grown Heter
Balah ba’ir (her husband is in town) is a possible heter for a woman who is in her own home with male strangers. There is a machlokes (dispute) whether the heter applies to the playgroup setup since the restriction on private-home women teachers seemingly includes all married women (based on the halachic principle of lo plug—Chazal made no distinction—see Halacha # 665). But according to many poskim, if the playgroup teacher’s husband is around so that he may pop in from time to time, this is sufficient to preclude yichud.
Some authorities do not deem balah ba’ir as sufficient heter for additional reasons. (For example, it is not reliable: there are situations where a husband needs to leave town intermittently, and the wife-teacher would not be able to “close shop” for the duration.) However, many agree that a playgroup with two women teachers—a playgroup usually has at least one assistant—poses less of an issue than one.
Welcoming Walk-ins
A further heter (accepted by some poskim who reject balah ba’ir as sufficient) is a setup where there is pesach pasuach l’reshus harabim (a door is open to the public) at all times and there are other people who are yotze v’nichnas (coming and going). An alternative to pesach pasuach is a classroom with street frontage that has large, non-shaded windows and can be entirely viewed by passersby.
(It should be noted that some consider the relationship of teacher and parent as libo gas bah—on friendly terms. In such cases, balah ba’ir is not accepted as a heter and according to some opinions, neither is pesach pasuach.)
The Morah Stands Alone
A single, widowed or divorced woman teacher—or one whose husband works out of town—working without assistance in an inner room of her home or high-rise apartment, who might also need to keep the door closed for security, is left with a halachic quandary. Poskim struggle to find some level of limud zechus (viewing [a halachic lapse] favorably) for this arrangement.
One possible justification offered by some: the original injunction against a private-home female teacher applied in a time when women generally stayed at home (so contracted childcare was a luxury) and in a situation where a male, married counterpart would have been equally qualified to fill the position. However, both men and women are in the workforce nowadays, so a playgroup arrangement is considered a necessity in many communities, and a playgroup teacher, as a particularly motherly figure, is the (almost) exclusive domain of women.
Another suggested explanation to possibly exclude playgroups from to the issur of a woman teacher at home: the halachic restriction refers specifically to a Torah teacher. Most playgroups, on the other hand, are low-key enterprises, primarily for babysitting and the toddlers’ social interaction. Additionally, some groups use bus transportation, and fathers hardly—if ever—show, seemingly resolving the issue from the get-go.
However, the majority of poskim reject these as valid halachic arguments, and many authorities conclude that without the heter of balah ba’ir (and according to some, without additional factors such as an assistant, pesach pasuach and/or yotze v’nichnas) there is a concern of yichud in a private-home playgroup.
https://halacha2go.com?number=711