Privacy in One’s Backyard
Hezek re’iyah (harm caused by viewing) is the concept that one may not cause damage or discomfort to another, even by just looking. A practical application of this halachah is the prohibition of opening or installing a door or window through which one can look into another’s property. In the same vein, if two homeowners have adjacent backyards, one should not be able to see into the other yard. Therefore, if one of them so wishes, they have the right to insist that a wall be constructed between the backyards, the cost of which they share equally—regardless of the size of their respective properties; the wall should run the entire length of the yard so that no part of the yard is visible to the neighbor. This halachah applies in any place where people wish to have some modicum of privacy, such as for example, if they wish to eat outside and don’t want their neighbors watching them. It applies even in places where the norm is not to have walls between backyards—which is the custom in many places these days. #374
פרטי דינים בשו״ע חו״מ סקנ״ז. סשע״ח ס״ה. ובנו״כ. שו״ע אדה״ז הל׳ נזקי ממון סי״א ואילך.
וראה בארוכה בשיחת ש״פ בלק תש״ל בכללות הגדר היזק ראי׳, ואם הוא מה״ת או דרבנן.
הדוגמא שבפנים שאוכלים שם - ע״פ פירש״י ב״ב ב, ב ד״ה היזיקא. וראה שו״ת בעי חיי חו״מ ח״ב סמ״ט.
ויל״ע בחצר שבימינו שהרי גדר חצר שרוב תשמישו שם, כמ״ש בפירש״י (שם ב, א) ד״ה השותפין. ועיי״ש במהר״ם. ואכ״מ.