Eruv
An eruv is a ritual halakhic enclosure made for the purpose of allowing activities which are normally prohibited on Shabbat, specifically: carrying objects from a private domain to a semi-public domain, and transporting objects four cubits or more within a semi-public domain. The enclosure is found within some Jewish communities, especially Orthodox ones.
An eruv accomplishes this by symbolically integrating a number of private properties and spaces such as streets and sidewalks into one larger "private domain" by surrounding it with mechitzas, thereby avoiding restrictions of transferring between domains. Often a group constructing an eruv obtains a lease to the required land from a local government.
An eruv allows Jews to carry, among other things, house keys, tissues, medication, or babies with them, and to use strollers and canes – all of which are otherwise forbidden from being carried outside one’s home during Shabbat, in the absence of an eruv.
Definition
The prohibition of transferring between domains
In Jewish tradition it is commonly said that "carrying" is forbidden on Shabbat. Specifically, "transferring between domains" is considered one of the 39 categories of activity prohibited on Shabbat.The halacha of Shabbat divides spaces into four categories:
- Private domain, such as a house
- Public domain, such as a very busy road
- Semi-public domain, which includes most other places
- Neutral domain, such as the flat space on top of a pole
On Shabbat, it is forbidden to transfer an object from one domain to another, including from one person's house to another adjacent house. The only exception is transferring to or from a neutral domain.
In addition, it is also forbidden to transfer an object for a distance of 4 cubits within a public domain or karmelit.
While biblical law prohibits carrying objects between private and fully public domains on Shabbat, rabbinic law extends this restriction to carrying between a private domain and a semi-public karmelit as a safeguard of the biblical law. The rabbinic prohibition of carrying between a private domain and a karmelit is relaxed whenever an eruv is in place.
''Eruv chatzerot''
The term eruv is a shortening of eruv chatzerot, literally a "merger of domains". This makes carrying within the area enclosed by the eruv no different from carrying within a single private domain, which is permitted.The eruv typically includes numerous private homes, as well as a semi-public courtyard whose ownership is shared by them. To enact the merger of the homes and courtyard into a single domain, all home owners as well as owners of the courtyard must pool together certain foodstuffs, which grants the area of the eruv the status of a single private domain. As a precondition for this merger, the area must be surrounded by a wall or fence.
In many cases the demarcation of the shared area consists of real walls or fences. Building walls may also be used, and in some cases so may a natural wall such as a river bank or steep hill.
Walls may include doors and windows. As such, the wall may even consist of a series of "doorframes" with almost no wall between them. Poles in the ground form the "doorposts" of the doorframe, and rope or wire between the poles forms the "lintel" of the doorframe. In modern cities, it is typical for the majority of an eruv to consist of such doorframes, using utility poles and wires.
When a "doorframe" is used as part of an eruv, it is required that the "lintel" rest on top of the "doorpost", rather than being attached to the side of the "doorpost". Since the "lintel" is frequently a utility wire which runs along the side of the utility pole, the pole cannot be used as "doorpost". In this case, an additional "doorpost", known in Hebrew as a lechi, is attached to the side of the utility pole. This typically takes the form of a thin plastic pipe attached to the side of the utility pole, and the wire runs directly overhead of this pipe.
Within the walled area, a property transfer is needed to create the shared domain. This is formally effected today by having one resident give some "bread" to another resident to keep, to create a joint ownership of food for the whole community. This is usually done by the rabbi of the community to ensure that it is done correctly, and the bread is usually matzah to ensure that it will be edible and usable for a long time. In the Talmud and other classic rabbinic sources, the term eruv refers to the bread itself.
A typical modern eruv encloses public streets as well as private houses, and thus requires agreement from the government authorities controlling those streets. Creating an eruv that involves public property requires that a government entity grant permission in order for the eruv to be valid. This is often done by issuing a symbolic proclamation which has no weight in secular law.
Specific laws of eruv
In general, authorities agree that eruvin are subject to certain restrictions. For example, they can be located in only certain places, and may not be of indefinite size. A prohibition against walking too far outside city boundaries limits the possible size of an eruv. Also, the eruv walls or doorways must be at least 10 tefachim in height.The laws of eruv differ depending on whether the eruv contains only private domains and carmelit, or else public domains as well. If public domains are not included, the eruv wall may include "doorways" constructed out of wire and posts, with no actual door in them. If public domains are included, the wall must be an actual wall – every "doorway" must have a door in it, and these doors must be closed each night. This situation was common in ancient walled cities, but is rare nowadays. So in practice, eruvin are only built in areas that do not include a public domain.
What constitutes a "public area" is debated. The strict opinion holds that any road more than 16 cubits wide is a public domain, while the lenient opinion holds that a public domain must have both 16 cubits of width and 600,000 people passing through the road on a single day. In practice, most communities that build eruvin accept the lenient opinion, although certain neighborhood eruvin are able to use the more stringent opinion. However, in a few large cities such as New York City, it is possible that more than 600,000 people pass through certain roads in a single day. This would prevent building an eruv there even according to the lenient opinion. This possibility is the source of debates among the Jews in New York City regarding the validity of particular eruvin or any eruv.
In addition, the size of an eruv can be limited by a number of practical considerations. For example, the requirement that the eruv boundary be thoroughly checked each week and any needed repairs made before sunset on Friday limits the area that can be practically covered by a manageable eruv. The sensitivity of utility and public works crews about disturbing eruv-related attachments when making repairs can vary widely. Political and institutional differences, or differences about the correct interpretation of the relevant Jewish law, can also result in separate areas maintained by separate organizations.
Checking the eruv
The boundaries of an eruv must be checked regularly. If the boundary is not complete and contiguous in every element, no valid eruv can exist that Shabbat, and carrying remains prohibited. Eruv associations generally maintain hotlines or web sites informing communities of the status of the eruv on Friday afternoon.Activities prohibited even within an eruv
Though a valid eruv enables people to carry or move most items outdoors on Shabbat, all other Shabbat restrictions still apply. These prohibitions include:- Handling objects that are muktzeh, whether indoors or outdoors.
- Opening an umbrella, which is analogous to erecting a tent, and falls under the category of construction. Since umbrellas may not be opened, they are muktzeh.
- Typical weekday activities, 'to protect the sanctity of Shabbat'. The precise scope of this prohibition is subject to a wide range of rabbinic opinion.
- Moving or carrying items in preparation for a post-Shabbat activity, unless one has a legitimate use for them on Shabbat itself.
- Many sports and sport-related activities: Many authorities consider balls muktzeh; others do not. In general, sports that result in holes or ruts being carved into the playing surface may be played only on surfaces that are not subject to such damage. Exercise of any kind is only permitted on Shabbat if done for the pleasure of the activity itself, rather than for other reasons such as health.
Disagreements among Orthodox groups
One of the oldest halakhic disputes in the United States revolves around the issue of an eruv in Manhattan, New York. In 1905, Rabbi Yehoshua Seigel created an eruv on Manhattan's Lower East Side, bounded by seawalls which once protected the island as well as the Third Avenue El; however, some other rabbis ruled the eruv to be invalid.
In the 1950s, a proposal by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kasher to establish an eruv in Manhattan gained the support of many prominent rabbis, including Rabbis Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, Dovid Lifshitz, and Ephraim Oshry, and the Kopishnitzer, Novominsker and Izhbitza-Radziner Rebbes. Other authorities, such as Rabbis Aharon Kotler and Moshe Feinstein, raised objections, and a major controversy ensued. In the end, the opposing Union of Orthodox Rabbis issued a declaration opposing it.
In June 2007, the East Side portion of the internal Manhattan eruv was completed, offering an eruv within Manhattan to Orthodox Jews living on the East, Upper East, and Upper West Sides. There are also two eruvin in Washington Heights, Manhattan, one covering the Yeshiva University area and another that is part of Mount Sinai Jewish Center and covers the Fort Washington area. These eruvin are rejected by the Khal Adath Jeshurun community in Washington Heights.
Another ongoing dispute is the status of two inter-connected eruvin in Brooklyn: the Flatbush and Borough Park eruvin. The Borough Park eruv, from its initial construction, was rejected by most of the Hasidic community, and was rejected by most of the non-Hasidic "Lithuanian yeshiva" communities. The Flatbush eruv was originally built with the support of the Modern Orthodox community, and was later enhanced with the support of some local "non-Modern Orthodox" families. It was totally rejected by the many "Lithuanian yeshiva" communities led by the rosh yeshivas of the large yeshivas Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, Mir Yeshiva, and Yeshiva Torah Vodaas that are based in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. In the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, there is some dispute over the making of an eruv, with Zalman Teitelbaum, the Satmar rebbe of Williamsburg, leading the opposition to an eruv.