Privacy

In 1890, in the Harvard Law Review, future Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis termed the right of privacy "the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men." Indeed, privacy is a fundamental American value that is recognized in our laws, business practices, professional obligations, electoral process, customs and traditions. Judaism teaches us that privacy is a fundamental aspect of the human condition, the protection of which is a serious societal and individual responsibility. Our tradition distinguishes privacy as an essential element of personality, rather than as only a right of property, and considers privacy an aspect of one's sanctity as a child of God.