*** This Halacha deals with topic of Yichud. Yichud is the concept that a man may not be secluded with a forbidden woman. Please read all the Halachot on this topic as there are conditions and exclusions that must be fully understood before accepting Lema’ase. ***

Is there an amount of time that is considered the minimum, whereby being alone with someone for a shorter period would then not constitute Yichud? Would it be considered Yichud, if a man and lady are alone together for 3 seconds? What about 20 seconds, or what about 90 seconds? Is there a set minimum amount of time, and if so, then what is that Shiur (amount?)

There are many opinions that are offered in the Gemara on this. Rav Eliyashiv, may he live and be well, basically says that the minimum amount of time needed to constitute Yichud is one minute and a half. However, as explained by the Minchat Shlomo, (Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach), one must be careful as it is forbidden to be alone with someone if the seclusion potential is greater than a minute and a half. So if the seclusion is temporary for 1.5 minutes or less, than it is permissible, but if the seclusion can continue longer than it is not permissible.

The question is asked about elevators. Is it a problem of Yichud for a man to be alone with a lady on an elevator? To answer this, we refer to the opinion above regarding minimum time required to constitute Yichud. In most cases, it would take less than 1.5 minutes to ride an elevator from floor A to floor B, and there is strong probability of a stop within that time where others may additionally get on to the elevator. So therefore, you would not have a problem of Yichud in most elevators because it’s highly unlikely that a man would be alone with a woman for more than 1.5 minutes. Now this applies to most elevators, but there are lifts in sky scrapers that are called express elevators that ride from the ground floor to the top floor which take more than 1.5 minutes to make the trip. We will discuss these types of elevators in an upcoming Daily Halacha. So again, for most elevators, it would be permissible because it would take less than 1.5 minutes to travel from floor A to floor B, and additionally, it would be probable that additional stops would bring additional people who would serve as protectors against Yichud.

I want to point out that some of the Acharonim bring down that even though a man may be allowed to ride an elevator alone with a woman, it nevertheless would be improper. This is something that the Halacha would call ‘Mechoar’, meaning that it is just not right. According to the letter of the law it is not forbidden, but some men are careful from an ethical standpoint not to be alone with a lady. The seclusion may be for less than 1.5 minutes, but it would be respectable to avoid such an awkward encounter.