Eruv:

It has many years since the Allentown Eruv was first completed, with HaShem’s help and with above-and-beyond exertion from numerous individuals. The community owes the Eruv’s builders a great debt of gratitude.

Since the establishment of the Eruv, a small cadre of volunteers has worked hard to make sure the Eruv would stay “up.” Late on a Friday, the Eruv Committee may be found straightening a plastic strip on a telephone pole or working with an electrician to adjust a wire. Their hard work enables us to enjoy our Shabbat to a greater extent, allowing parents of small children to get out of the house and letting people transport glasses, handkerchiefs, etc. to shul and to other people’s homes. The Eruv allows us to use strollers and wheelchairs, and permits us to transport Siddurim and Tallitot.

 When the Eruv was first established, Rabbi Korobkin and the Eruv Committee published a set of guidelines for Eruv use. Many people have asked for a re-issuing or for clarification, and so here is a reprinting of Eruv Guidelines:

• The Eruv permits transport, but it does not does not permit other forbidden work (Melachah). Therefore, driving, operating electrical appliances, and all other acts which are forbidden on Shabbat, are prohibited even within the confines of an Eruv. The prohibition includes use of an umbrella on Shabbat, as that constitutes construction of a roofed structure.

• The Eruv does not allow handling of Muktzeh items. The rabbis banned the handling of certain objects which are deemed unnecessary or inappropriate for Shabbat. The broad term for such items is Muktzeh. This includes objects like tools, wallets, money, matches, cigars, electronic devices, writing instruments, tickets, and so forth. The Eruv does not permit transport or handling of Muktzeh items.

•   The Eruv does not permit “weekday activity” (uvda d’chol). The prophet Isaiah recorded a prohibition against speaking of business and against weekday-oriented activities. This includes riding bicycles or skateboards, roller skating, and carrying pocketbooks. Playing ball in the street or otherwise in public view is also included. Children under the age of Bar/Bat Mitzvah may play ball in their yards; it is up to parents to weigh how their children’s attitude to Shabbat is affected by playing these games.

• The Eruv borders. The Eruv is a physical boundary, enclosing the space shown on the Eruv Map. That physical boundary is largely formed by wires, which run through yards and along streets. It is important to realize that on the Eruv’s boundary streets, the Eruv generally does not enclose the entire street. Only the space inside the wires is encompassed by the Eruv.

It is difficult for people to be able to tell which wires form the Eruv – any two poles are connected by multiple wires, and there are some poles which are not part of the Eruv, at all. Therefore, transport on streets which form the border of the Eruv is prohibited.

Only a person who (1) lives on a border street, and (2) needs to use it to exit the house, may carry on that street. Even such a person should make sure to minimize travel on the border street – it is simply too difficult to make sure one is within the boundary.

Make sure the Eruv is up. Please don’t assume that the Eruv is up. Three years of a consistently valid Eruv may lull people into thinking the Eruv will always be up, but three years of Eruv work has shown that this assumption would be laughably incorrect. Nearly every Friday there is a need to mend one or more problems which develop during the week, and it is evident that there will come a week when there will be no time, or no personnel, to make the necessary repairs.

Therefore, each family must check that the Eruv is up in order to be permitted to carry on Shabbat. One may call the Jewish Info Line to check if the Eruv is up - dial 776-TORA, and then press “4” from a touch-tone phone. The message will be updated every Shabbat afternoon by our checker.  There is a Friday Eruv email, letting people know whether or not the Eruv is up each Friday - contact the Rabbi at if you want to be on the mailing list.

Do not assume that the Eruv is up without checking the Info Line or receiving an email.

Education is essential – the “Down” Shabbat. One of the concerns of Eruv critics is that people will forget about the prohibition against transport, so that when people from an Eruv community visit a non-Eruv community, they will forget that they cannot carry. Therefore, we will declare one Shabbat out of the year (with ample notice) to be an “Eruv Down” Shabbat, at which time the Eruv will not be in effect.

I am certain that  there will be other Shabbatot during the year when the Eruv will be out of commission, and carrying will not be permitted. In this spirit, it is crucial that we educate ourselves and our children about the laws of transport on Shabbat.

Again, thank you to those people who have helped make the Eruv a reality, and who maintain the Eruv. Your contributions of money and time are greatly appreciated. With Hashem’s help, the Eruv will continue to enhance our community sense of achdut [unity], and to help us develop a greater level of Shabbat honor and observance.