ABSTRACT
The need to decide between good and evil gave man self-consciousness and a sense of privacy which was affronted by his exposure. The abhorrence of exposure of what should remain concealed is evidenced in the Biblical idiom for illicit sexual relations. The most important contribution of the Halakhah to privacy law is not the problem of physical trespass but that of a more subtle form of intrusion: visual penetration of a neighbor's domain. Visual or aural invasion of privacy is primarily a moral offense, and the civil law and its requirements of monetary compensation are derivative from it. The Halakhah considers intrusion and disclosure as two separate instances of the violation of privacy. The Halakhah's legal and moral doctrines of privacy can be shown to be based upon certain fundamental theological considerations. In its broadest and deepest sense disclosure is not so much an act of instigating social disharmony as the invasion of personal privacy.
