daf bit: Bava Batra 20

[cellio]

The mishna and g'mara have been discussing limitations on what you can and can't do to your neighbors, such as building a pit right next to the property line or pouring liquid on his wall. In today's daf the mishna teaches: if a man wants to open a shop in a shared courtyard, his neighbor can prevent him by saying that the noise of people coming and going will disturb his sleep. However, if the man wishes to make articles in the courtyard to take out and sell in the market, the neighbor has no valid complaint, even if his work makes noise (e.g. hammer blows). (21b)

The rabbis here seem not to be concerned about the noise itself so much as they are over what causes the noise. (We don't get the functional equivalent of a noise ordinance.) A note in the Soncino edition notes a preference for industry over trade.

Comments

[talvinamarich.livejournal.com]

A shop where things are bought and sold might be placed elsewhere more easily. A public market, bazaar, etc. would be part of daily life in that era, as is mentioned in the example. You can pick up the finished products and carry them elsewhere to be sold.

A place of industry, however, is not so easily found. You might sell pots in the market, but you can't have a potter's wheel and kiln there!

IANAR (like IANAL, but...well, you get it ;)), but I suspect that holding shop in another location would be considered a small hardship, but having a separate location to produce goods would be considered a greater hardship. The rules cannot outright bar the man from making a living.

[geekosaur]

And in the other direction: a pottery shop in the common area could find itself expanding into a bazaar by accretion.

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

I was tempted to use IANAR yesterday, but was afraid it wouldn't be understood.

[cellio]

I've used IANAR, but with uncertainty about whether it would be understood. (These days I'm not sure how widely-understood IANAL is.)

[cellio]

That's a good point. I wonder if there are any exceptions if what you make is extremely large or unwieldy (200-pound anvils, king-sized four-poster beds, etc). :-)

[byronhaverford.livejournal.com]

It's not a noise ordinance; it's a zoning ordinance.

[cellio]

Sort of, but with zoning, once you've got the designation no one can object, but the default answer is "no" and you have to petition for variance. Here, the default seems to be "yes" except that any neighbor can shut down one class of activity. So I guess you're zoned for industry and the zoning board has no opinion on trade until someone complains.