New York – The debate over the creation of an eruv in Southhampton Town, Long Island has turned ugly.
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Long Island Newsday reports (http://bit.ly/OT1vLc) that The Jewish People for the Betterment of Westhampton Beach, a group which opposes an eruv in the area, filed a complaint on July 30 in United States District Court to prevent the use of Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) poles as part of the eruv. The group claims such use is unconstitutional. The Hamptons Synagogue first requested an eruv in Westhampton Beach in 2008. Since then, a number of lawsuits have been filed.
If the court finds in favor of the plaintiffs, it would affect other functioning Long Island eruvim which also utilize LIPA poles as markers. Representatives from LIPA refused to speak about the lawsuit. Jonathan Sinnreich, Esq. who represents those challenging the creation of the eruv in Southhampton Town, said, “It’s a complicated question. It’s [LIPA] a state authority, and therefore subject to the limitations of the First Amendment establishment clause.” Under the Constitution’s First Amendment, the government is forbidden from making laws involving the establishment of religion or of preventing the free exercise of religion.
In addition to the existing eruvim on Long Island, there is an eruv in Manhattan which extends from river to river, as well as one in Washington, DC, which encompasses the White House.
So far, there is no trial date scheduled in this case.
I love the name of the group,” The Jewish People for the Betterment of Westhampton Beach” What do they do besides fight the invisable erev?
The leader of the anti-erev movement has an interesting statement is his filing: “While I respect the rights of all Jews, and in fact all people, to worship God and practice their faiths in their own way, it is meaningful to me that the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which is the umbrella body for all Reform Rabbis in the United States, has taken an official position rejecting eruvs as kind of “legal fiction” which is inconsistent with the true spiritual observance of the Sabbath under Jewish law and tradition. “
I wonder what the CCAR finds consistant with the observance of the Sabbath”
The self-haters need to get a life and let live.
Nice group of people: “Every time one of our members traveled in or about the Village’s streets and observed the presence of the eruv, they would feel that their own interpretation of Jewish law had been belittled and demeaned by their own Village government, in favor of the EEEA’s contrary religious views.”
So seeing the eruv wire would cause you to feel belittled?
You have to search for the wire! If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you probably couldn’t find it between the power, phone, and cable TV wires.
The selfhating Jews have nothing better to do then fight an Eruv Sinas Chinam! Yimach Schmom shel hareshaim shem reshaim yirkav!
A group of “Jewish” people opposing an eruv. “Jewish” in what way – aside from by birth? For shame! The day will come when they’ll have to answer to a Higher Power.
Unconstitutional? Very funny. The constitution gives freedom of religion. It should give the community the right to erect the Eruv.
the crowd in the photo is fighting an eruv, i doubt if any even know Modeh Ani or Bircas Shehakol !!!!!!!!!!
JINOs. Jews in name only. In 2 more generations, these people will dissapear from the Jewish radar like the Hebrew slaves who stayed in mitzrayim. They are afraid to be different from goyim or want to be like them, while only frum Jewish populations are growing.
Oh yes! encompassing the white house! Hey that’s considered “encompassing” only from a torah prespective! It’s not a net that encompasses from above and down around! It’s like saying that the egyptians when they worshiped the nile, would that be “encompassing” the pyramids? That’s a stretch from an honest prespective! But quite the norm for hate filled reform that can’t stand any orthodox and would like to trip them at every possible convenience.
Great- so they agree with the chareidim in Boro Park who also oppose the eruv
Get real. They don’t oppose the eruv, they oppose intolerant Haredim moving into the neighborhood. Where the modern orthodox go, the Haredim are sure to follow. And of late some of “our” Chevra have been shown acting in ways that make normal people want to keep their distance. We need more siyumim and less rock throwing.
I suspect the anti-eruv group are nervous that their children will see the eruv and begin to ask questions which leads to joining the orthodox. The eruv belittles, the kippah belittles, the tzitzit belittles. Actually, its a good sign. Their souls are still alive and kicking otherwise it would not bother them.
Although I don’t agree with either their spirit or the law, this is a peculiar case, in that LIPA is not a private power company. The outcome of this case should in no way affect the eruvim in other places, such as Manhattan and Washington, where the power companies are private corporations.
I built the eruv in Baltimore, 1975-1981, and my book on eruv construction was used by nearly 200 communities across North America to built their eruvin.
I began to wonder what is it about the mitzva d’rabbanan of tikkun eruvin that gets people so “bent out of shape?” Some lose their derech eretz. Their behavior becomes unsocialized. Sometimes they behave like animals. We observe them calling names, spreading sinas chinum, and sometimes even vandalizing. Other mitzvos d’rabbanan do not provoke such deplorable responses. Biur chometz, hadlakas ner Chanuka, Hallel, krias hamegillah do not get people upset. I wondered, “What is it about tikkun eruvin?” Recall the tradition that everything is mentioned in the Torah. I searched the Torah for some remez to this sociological phenomenon.
In Megillah 10b, Chazal declare, “Kol makom she-neemar ‘vayehi’ aino elah lashon tza-ar.” That is, the word “vayehi” is a literary device to alert the reader, “Here comes the bad news.”
Six times in the Torah, Hashem says, “Vayehi erev vayehi voker.” Al tikrei, “Vayehi erev, vayehi voker,” elah “Vayehi eruv, vayehi vakar, (And there was an eruv and there were behamas).”
I have 3 questions, Are these people intermarried, how many children do they have and are their children intermarried or married at all.Self hating Jews
Look at there pitiful faces.grumpy unhappy ppl. Who would want to mingle with these insecure self-centered humans
Not so good news, after all, The whole monsey eruv is on o
r electric poles, If court rols it might effect the monsey eruv too
These people are asking the government to perform an illegal act while declaring that allowing the Eruv would actually be unconstitutional? That’s Chutzpah!
(Disallowing the Eruv would be discriminating against a particular religion. The poles are rented out for other uses to other companies.)
(reply to no 22) The comments on this site are usually very liberal,and against ultra Orthodux.
Because I guess the reader of this site are coming from this kind of environment and they don’t have a big sympathy with the so called Williamsburg hasidim.
but to go so down and say you are Jewish without Torah then you are probably a kofer the Jewish nation is based on Torah if you are leaving the Torah and you are fighting against it then you have no part with Jewish nation.
Wyatt Cenac made the anti-eruv group look like a bunch of idiots.
I’m so glad that the Washington, D.C. eruv “encompasses the White House.”
Now President Obama doesn’t have to worry about carrying on Shabbos…
So sad, the lack of ahavas yisroel. These Jews are so assimilated, so lost to Judaism that they don’t just choose to not keep mitzvot, but they actively oppose and obstruct others living a Torah life, even when nobody forces them to keep mitzvot, to the point of exuding prejudice and bigotry of the kind used to justify the Final Solution. Where are the CCAR and reform “rabbis” when then their followers commit such chillul hashem and incite against the very “social justice” that the Reform movement defines are the primary (only?) mitzvah?
I know many of these people in the picture. None are self hating Jews and almost all donate millions to Jewish charities. They are concerned about the area turning into another Monsey and I can’t blame them. These people pay very high taxes on their beautiful estates and don’t want illegal Yeshivas springing up next store.
I guess the lawyer representing the Village hasn’t taken a good look at the eruv case in Tenafly, NJ. The federal Court ruled the eruv was not Unconsitutional and was not a burden on anyone in the area. Generally, eruvs are upheld in the Courts – but the only way municipalities allow them is after they lose in Court. Otherswise, the politicians could never get re-elected because they’d be accused of caving in to the Jews if they simply allowed them to put it up in the first place.
To #s 22 & 23: Monsey is a beautiful town that contains many vibrant neighborhoods representing different sects of Judaism. Individuals / families can choose to reside in in whichever surroundings they feel more comfortable or is more suited to them. It’s a wonderful place filled with Torah-observing Yidden living in harmony.
מהרסייך ומחריביך ממיך יצאו.
” … almost all donate millions to Jewish charities.”
Please clarify: are you trying to tell us that nearly each one of them donates millions?
These assimilated Jews get nervous when they see observant Jews with Kippahs, Tsitsis, and Talit. They also get nervous when they see Jews carrying Lulavs and Esrogs. They are very intolerant, and I’ve seen them in my own community. In some cases, they can be just as intolerant, or even more so than gentiles. For some reason, they seem to believe that if Orthodox Jews begin to populate an area, which was previously judenrein, then the gentiles will react harshly against them. Therefore, they try to show that they are better Jews by “keeping those people out”. This is typical of the galut mentality!
They claim they care about the constitution, but their real concern is that they don’t want more Orthodox Jews moving into the area. Here’s a quote from their website, which strongly suggests that complaints about the frum Jews in the area is what’s really animating them.
“Is the Alliance concerned about code violations, busing and illegal housing? This is not the focus of the Alliance. To be sure, many of our members as individuals take exception to the apparent disregard for the community. They have seen the evidence of broken covenants, and the support of illegal housing. They have heard music played long into the night. They have documented the glut of traffic drawn to advertised events. As individuals, they can be expected to continue to call community attention to these issues.”
It’s a real shame that non-Orthodox Jews have complaints about frum Jews’ behavior. This should be a wakeup call. Frum Jews should keep lines of communication open with the secular to see what complaints they have, and, within reason, respond to them. Heaven forbid that anyone associates bad behavior with frum Jews — if so, that chillul Hashem needs to be rectified.
there is a video called “the thin jew line” that is a very funny summary of the eruv debate
#36 what a ridiculous comparison between a halachic concern and the narishkeit of these anti-eruv people. Are you really from Lakewood? Learn some more please!
The Daily Show had a black correspondent who made mincemeat of these self-haters. It was hilarious. He kept saying that it would be obstructive and ugly and even the self haters said, no, it is practically invisible. He went on to show that they just want to keep out the Orthodox (possibly bc they are afraid of their kids becoming frum).