Our sages teach that one should not enter any home, even one’s own, without knocking first. As Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai teaches: “There are four things that God hates that I also don’t like…a person who enters his own home suddenly without knocking, and it goes without saying, one who enters his neighbor’s house without knocking.”[1] Similarly, Rabbi Akiva included this in the seven instructions he gave his son Yehoshua: “My son…do not enter your house suddenly, and how much more so, your friend’s house.”[2] The Midrash says that Rav Yochanan would clear his throat before entering Rav Hanina’s home as a way of announcing his arrival.[3]
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