Dear Mrs. Bluth,
We are having a big problem with my next-door neighbor and it is turning ugly. The person we bought our home from had the same issue, but never told us about it. It seems the bad blood between them has now transferred over onto us.
When we first came to look at the house, the owner took us to meet the neighbor on the other side; everyone seemed friendly and told us great things about the block and the neighborhood. In fact, many of the children were of the same age as our children and would be going to the same yeshivos, so we were assured that our children would not lack friendship. We also loved the shul, which was two blocks from the house and very convenient for my elderly father who lives with us. He is able to go to shul on Shabbos and attend shiurim on a daily basis. So buying this house was pretty much a done deal and we went to contract in record time.
All was tranquil for a few weeks and we integrated into the community and the neighborhood, enjoying our new friends and our new home. Then, on a warm summer Shabbos, my kids were playing with some friends in our backyard when I heard yelling and screaming. I ran out to find the neighbor to the right screaming at the kids who had been playing ball. I approached the gate that separated our yard from hers and asked what the problem was. The woman nearly seared my ears off with her foul language, yelling that the kids’ ball playing had damaged her garden and that “You people think you can do whatever you want” which would become her mantra every time she found something to fault us for – which turned out to be two or three times a week.
Things have drastically escalated since then. Those neighbors also have two dogs they allow to run free in their back yard and two weeks ago one of the dogs almost jumped over the fence into our yard, traumatizing our three-year-old. The kids no longer play in the backyard.
I have spoken to many of my neighbors and asked them how they deal with these people and they say to just ignore them. That’s when I found out that a great part of the reason the previous owners sold was because these people were anti-Semites who were the last hold-outs on the block even after all their friends had sold their homes to Jews. They have been a thorn in everyone’s side, blaming the Jewish community for chasing away their kind. This explanation does little to help me and I am afraid of what will come next. I’ve already encountered dog feces on my front walk, and garbage strewn across my lawn. Is there any legal action or other recourse I can take to safeguard my family and home from these people?
Dear Friend,
What an awful predicament! To have found the house, neighborhood and community that offers you all that you were looking for, and then to move in and find you have horrid neighbors who are determined to make you suffer for moving in and pay a price for their own kind moving out of the neighborhood, must be terribly unnerving. I would venture to say that reasoning with these people would be a futile and possibly defeatist endeavor. Certainly, something needs to be done.
What I would do first is to install video cameras around the outside of your home, to record whatever vile retribution those neighbors inflict on you. Then, I would go to your local police precinct and enlist their help in dealing with these people, as some of what they’ve done constituted trespassing on private property (yours!), vandalism, is another. It would also be wise to consult an attorney and see what your options are, as well as rallying the community to speak out on your behalf… and their own if they have also encountered problems with these people. The previous owner of your house should also write a letter stating that they are the reason he sold his house – it’s the least he can do for not being up-front with you about these horrible people.
Sadly, anti-Semitism is alive and well and breeding in many neighborhood. It behooves us to address it in a civil and constructive way so that we can live and thrive in our communities. Doing nothing only emboldens those that wish us harm and makes it easy for them to continue their harassment. If history has taught us anything at all, it has taught us this truth.
