Is It Permitted to Sell Windows to a Church?

Rav Yosef Kushner

Question: We said that one is not allowed to install windows in a church. What if someone sells windows? Is he allowed to sell them to a church without doing the installation himself?

Answer: In addition to the halacha forbidding a Jew to build a church, one is also not allowed to beautify a church. This prohibition includes selling something to a church – such as decorative candles – that would be used to make it beautiful. The Chazon Ish seems to say that this is a takanah connected to the decree prohibiting a Jew from providing any benefit to a church.

Selling products that don’t add any beauty or grandeur to the building, such as drywall, would probably be permitted. It would, however, be forbidden to sell to a church anything that would add to its beauty, such as nice light fixtures or carpets.

It would also be permitted to sell items such as regular paper goods to a church. Whether or not this is an appropriate thing to do is a matter one should discuss with his Rov if the question comes up.