Cluttered Bedrooms vs. Pirsimei Nisah

Question

My apartment in Israel has two windows, which face different streets. One window is less than twenty amos from the street level, but it is inside a bedroom that is cluttered and difficult to access. The other window is facing the opposite side of the building, and the window is more the twenty amos high but facing other apartment buildings across the road. The second option is from my dining room, which is much more pleasant to light in than the first room. Is there any preference of where to light?

Y. K.

Har Nof, Yerushalayim

Rav Auerbach 

The halacha is that one should light his menorah facing the reshus horabim, the public domain (Shulchan Aruch 671:5). Many rabbonim do not permit lighting on the higher floor of an apartment building facing the window of another building (see last teshuvah), and if possible, as it is in your case, it should be prevented.

Therefore, you should definitely light in the window that is lower than twenty amos high. Even though it is less pleasant for the family to gather in a cluttered bedroom to light the menorah, one should try to tidy up the room as much as possible. Maybe consider decorating it to make it more pleasant for everyone to join the lighting. The bottom line is that you should remember that the most important point of the mitzvos is to actually perform them according to the halacha, rather than opting for the ”nicer” place to do them.