dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (03/28/84)
I posted this back in the weeks when news from Eastern Canada wasn't getting out, so here goes again... | From: lew@ihuxr.UUCP (Lew Mammel, Jr.) | There was a news item last summer about an orthodox Jewish community | which was seeking to expand its symbolic fence to enclose a larger | area. This is the fence which defines a "household" and so expands | the allowed activities on the sabbath in the enclosed area. I can't remember | the correct name for it. The correct term is "eruv". What it defines is not a household but an enclosed area such as a walled city. The only Sabbath activity to which the eruv relates is is carrying. One is not permitted to carry *anything* outside the city. This includes carrying things in one's pockets. The ancient city of Jerusalem, for example, is a walled city. Carrying in the walled city on the Sabbath is permitted. | There was some controversy because the fence (actually a sort of string) | used public utility poles, and many non-Jews lived in the area as well. | There were some remarks attributed to a rabbi who was advocating this | expansion which I found rather amazing. He denied that the "fence" was | a religious symbol, characterizing it rather as a necessary aid to those | who would otherwise be prevented from carrying out various activities. There is an eruv in Toronto which has been the subject of some controversy. It was set up a number of years ago. Three of the borders are Lake Ontario and two rivers (the Don and the Humber), which legally constitute enclosures for the purpose of defining a walled city. The northern border consists of high-tension electrical wires running along the north end of Metro Toronto, supported by metal posts (the big ones that look a bit like stick men with arms sticking out). Recently the Jewish community has moved further north, beyond this border, and the eruv was extended to a new set of high-tension wires (north of highway 7). It has been approved by Rabbi Price, one of the senior Orthodox rabbis in Toronto. However, some people choose not to follw it for technical reasons. (The technical reasons include the size of the area covered, the relatively large distance between the posts which constitute the northern boundary, and the presence of Highway 401 which brings tens of thousands of people through the "enclosed area" every day. Rabbinical opinions differ; there are certainly some rabbis who maintain that an eruv is not possible in Toronto because of its size.) | In other words, he gave the sabbath laws the status of physical law, making | the "fence" a form of technology to overcome its limitations. The Sabbath laws, like all laws in Judaism, have defined limitations and requirements. Everyone agrees that if you put up a fence which meets certain requirements around your backyard, it is permissible to carry in the backyard. Creating an eruv around a city follows the same principles. | Here we have a case where a contrivance for subverting an observance takes | on the character of an observance itself. A similar case is that of the | randomly activated telephone. This is a phone which has a level of | indirection built in so that by picking up the receiver, the user can | avoid violating some interpretation of the proscription against building a fire | on the sabbath. I have never heard of such a telephone, and I know of no Orthodox Jews who use the telephone on the Sabbath. I do not agree with the phrase "contrivance for subverting an observance". The wall around Jerusalem is hardly a contrivance. | I'm wondering what Andy et al. think of this sort of thing. I find it | hard to commend such ingenuity in subverting the laws that are supposedly | held sacred. If you want to challenge the eruv on technical grounds, fine. Technically is it questionable (*NOTE*: I am saying questionable, I am not saying it is invalid!). But there is no question of "subverting" of laws going on here. As a matter of fact, the presence of an eruv in Toronto is wonderful, particularly for women with small children (note: carrying children isn't allowed if there's no eruv, and pushing a stroller or carriage is not allowed either). With an eruv, the ladies are able to come to the synagogue on Shabbos. Dave Sherman Toronto -- {allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsrgv!dave -- {allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsrgv!dave