Halakhah for Numbers 24:5

It is important to call attention to this case because it adjudicated an important Halachah that is often neglected in our times – hezeik re’iyah, visual trespass. The Gemara devotes much attention to this subject at the beginning of tractate Bava Batra. It is an especially important Halachah, as Chazal (Bava Batra 60a) teach that Bilam praises the Jewish People upon seeing that neighbors position their windows and the entrances to their homes in a manner that protects the privacy of one another.

The beit din did not recognize the decision of the civil building authority to authorize the building, since its decision contradicted a fundamental Torah value. Indeed, the beit din called upon the local authorities to take greater cognizance of hezeik re’iyah, in order to create communities in which we deserve to be commended as we were by Bilam.