Community
Council asked to approve eruv changes to allow more Charedim to use it
Federation head asks Barnet Council to agree modifications to proposed Golders Green eruv
December 1, 2023 13:44
By, Simon Rocker
1 min read
Federation head asks Barnet Council to agree modifications to proposed Golders Green eruv
December 1, 2023 13:44BySimon Rocker, Simon Rocker
Barnet Council has been asked to agree changes to the planned Golders Green eruv in order to allow more Charedi communities in the area to benefit from it.
The Shabbat boundary, which is under the religious supervision of the head of the Federation of Synagogues, Rabbi Shrava Feigel Zimmerman, was approved by councillors in summer.
An eruv converts a public area into private space under Jewish law, allowing observant Jews on Shabbat to carry, among other things, “house keys, tissues, medication or babies with them, and to use strollers and canes,” as the application explains.
In a letter supporting the changes, Rabbi Zimmerman said that he had been “approached by a senior rabbi who has turned to me on behalf of several Orthodox synagogues and their constituent communities that lie within the boundaries of the proposed eruv”.
These communities, he said, wished “to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to establish an eruv that would benefit their members. However, in order to satisfy their interpretations and rulings of Jewish law, they would require some additions to the current proposals.”
Eruvim represent a highly complex area of Jewish law and rabbis may disagree over where the boundary can be established.
Most Charedi families in Golders Green are thought not to use the metropolitan North-West London eruv, which was set up 20 years ago, because they believe it is invalidated by the existence of a major road running through it.
The Golders Green Eruv would be bounded mostly by existing main roads; however, where there was a gap, this would be marked by pairs of poles linked by thin wire representing symbolic gateways.
But one feature of this eruv is that it also proposes a number of green “boxes” similar to cabinets housing electricity meters, which would be at the side of the road; these would contain barriers which would be stretched across the road for a short time once a year to symbolically seal off the road.
Under the modified proposal, a further 18 boxes would be added to the original four along the route.
Rabbi Zimmerman told the council that “there may be some members of the Orthodox Jewish community who will choose not to make use of any local eruv, whatever its specifications”.
However, he understood that “the proposed changes wil satisfy the views of all of those who do wish to make use of an eruv facility in Golders Green”.