Can we talk nicely to one another about something I’ve never written about before….house building.
I have no idea of how the process of finding land and deciding to build a home on it works. None.
But something just doesn’t seem right to me, and I want to address it.
I have these friends. Newly weds no less. They purchased a gorgeous house. Adjacent the house was a lovely cluster of trees. My friend could open her kitchen window and just listen as the wind sedately breezed through the trees.
I knew that feeling. My wife and I purchased a home in 1986 in Randallstown. Behind us was a working corn farm. We had dear, mice and even a turtle or two in our backyard. And we loved it. The quiet of the corn field was sedating.
Then one morning barely at 6, the rude sound of a machine brought us to a mean reality. The corn was being cut down, and over the next months, a neighborhood of concrete, siding, hammering and sawing ruined our little landscape.
Instead of dense rows of cornstalks, we were staring from our back window into the back window of a new neighbor.
Fast forward to today. The home being build next to our friend’s home completely changes the wonderful exclusivity of their home. Sure, this is a free country. Sure, there’s money that can be made here. Sure, the developer, the owner, the builder had every right to build on this small parcel of land.
But did they really have to?
How much money did they really make out of this deal?
Was it worth changing the lives of this newlywed couple, who now really look at their house differently.
Sometimes, I think we lose our sense of midot, human civility and caring about other people in exchange for a buck or two. I don’t know, it seems to me the “Jewish” thing to do would have been to leave this piece of land and other pieces of land like this alone for all of us to enjoy the trees and breezes. Isn’t this what G-d gave to us?
Or is it always about the cash taking priority over someone else’s happiness.
Please, I’m not anti-development at all.
But can’t it be done with some heart?

Actually, there is a Halachic concept, “bar metzra” that says that the couple should have had first right of refusal to purchase the abutting property. Search for that term in these pages for more information:
http://www.besr.org/dvartorah/tamari/balak.html
http://dafyomi.shemayisrael.co.il/bmetzia/points/bm-ps-108.htm

I realize that this law doesn’t go as far as you seem to want, but at least you can confirm that your supposition about the “‘Jewish’ thing to do” is along the lines of Halachah on the books.