“A related question…. I am single and live alone. Several times recently, meshulachim have come to my apartment when I was already dressed for bed. If there is a knock, I ask who it is, and if it is a meshulach, I say that I cannot open the door at this time. Most of the time they leave, bit sometimes they are very insistent that I open the door! This can be as late as 10pm. One pair of gentlemen continued knocking for about 15 minutes and was yelling in Yiddish and scared me. I called a (male married) neighbor who came over and spoke to the meshulachim. But was I supposed to open the door? Even when I am not dressed for bed, I still do not feel comfortable opening the door at night. Am I supposed to anyway? Thanks! “
NO, NO, NO!!!!!! NO one has the right to be so chutzpadig as to come to anyone so late at night. And even were it not late at night, if you are a woman alone, you should not open your door. There are women who have been molested doing that. You should have told the man you were calling the police. I tell meshulachim who come in the night thatI do not open the door at night, and if they come back the next morning after 9 AM, I will give them something (in my neighborhood, they must present a teudah signed by the vaad of tzedaka, that is basically a permit for collecting in the neighborhood. This is because too many times people have been swindled by charlatans and ganovim, in one case someone was robbed by a phony collector. The vaad checks out the validitiy of the claim for need of funds, and then acts accordingly. Great system. Anyone who shows up at your door at an odd hour, is beyond belief. You have no chiyuv. If someone came knocking at my door at that hour claiming an emergency, I would offer to call 911 or hatzolah for them, but I would not open my door. We live in crazy times, unfortunately.