- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- P'ninat Mishpat
72
Case: The plaintiffs (=pl) are a group of residents who built together apartment buildings in a yishuv a few years ago. Now, the board of the yishuv (=def) is in the midst of building buildings for new residents across from pl’s buildings in a manner that pl believe will significantly take away from their view (even though the new buildings are down the slope of a hillside). Pl claim that def promised, while marketing the project, that pl’s view would always be protected, which def denies. Def also argues that the purchase contract states that the contract erases any previous understanding between the sides and that pl obligated themselves not to protest further building plans. Pl also claim that def may not build because a certain planning approval (taba) was not received yet. Several months ago, pl planned to challenge municipally def’s building plans. At a meeting between the sides, an agreement was written (but not signed) stating that the wall of the new building’s roof would be no higher than the level of the garden of the lowest set of pl’s apartments. Pl claims that they were misinformed when they made that agreement and that, in any case, the rooftop solar heating apparatuses will extend beyond the aforementioned level.
Ruling: We will take a look at the extent to which damaging one’s view is generally halachically significant.
The gemara (Bava Batra 7a) posits that one may build on his property even if takes away from the view of his neighbor as long as he leaves four amot (app., six feet) for space and light (see Tosafot ad loc.). The Maharalbach says that while it is forbidden to cause damage to one’s neighbor by seeing into his neighbor’s property, preventing a neighbor from enjoying a view by building in one’s own property is permitted.
While def cited the ruling of a contemporary beit din which applied these classical sources directly, we consider this a mistake. First, the law in Israel is that one may not build without a building permit, and government officials require much more than 6 ft. separation between buildings and do consider matters such as damaging someone’s view before giving a permit. The same gemara cited assumes that people have a real preference of having significant space and view in their homes, and it is the right and responsibility of a society to make rules that fit the situation of their times, as the Maharalbach himself mentions.
That being said, even after "adjusting" halacha for the increased need for air space and view, it is not accepted to prevent all compromising of a neighbor’s view. If we did so, then one who built a home before others could prevent the inhabitation of the area by others, which is certainly not what society wants, and certainly not in Eretz Yisrael.
Next time we will return to applying matters to our situation where agreements were made.

P'ninat Mishpat (781)
Various Rabbis
455 - New Buildings Blocking View – part I
456 - New Buildings Blocking View – part II
457 - New Buildings Blocking View – part III
Load More

Counter Claims – part III (Privacy, Housing Unit, Pipes, Aravot)
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit | Tevet 5784

Not Completed and Imperfect Renovation Job – part II
based on ruling 83063 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit | Elul 5784

P'ninat Mishpat: Proof Needed to Remove a Squatter – part II
based on ruling 81116 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit | Cheshvan 5784

P'ninat Mishpat: Rent of an Apartment Without a Protected Room
based on ruling 84036 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit | Iyar 5784

Various Rabbis
Various Rabbis including those of of Yeshivat Bet El, such as Rabbi Chaim Katz, Rabbi Binyamin Bamberger and Rabbi Yitzchak Greenblat and others.

Emotional Sensitivity to Distress
Tammuz 9 5777

Responsibilities Based on Different Modes of Influence
Sivan 26 5777

Following the Majority When the Minority Is More Knowledgeable
5771

“By their Families and the Household of their Fathers”
2 Sivan 5770

Hamapil for Those Who Take a Long Time to Fall Asleep
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Shvat 5773

To Renew our Days
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks | Tishrei 4 5777

Shaving and Haircuts during the Three Weeks
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | 5768

Hamapil for Those Who Take a Long Time to Fall Asleep
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Shvat 5773

Asking Restraint from Insulted New Yishuv – #334
Date and Place: Tammuz 5670 (1910)
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit | Tammuz 5785
