Queens, NY – Eruv Extended to Six Neighborhoods

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    Announcing the eruv project were: Rabbi David Keehn (NYHQ), David Friedman (acting assistant administrator, Tietz Center), Rabbi Chaim Schwartz (administrator, Vaad Harabonim of Queens), Rabbi Peretz Steinberg (Young Israel of Queens Valley), Rabbi Richard Weiss (Young Israel of Hillcrest), Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, Linda Spiegel (director of public affairs, Tietz Center) Michael Fassler (president/chief executive officer Beth Abraham Family of Health Services) and Rabbi Zavel (Tietz Center Rabbi) from left to right. Photo:THE QUEENS COURIER/Photo by Bob DodaQueens, NY – Those that observe Torah law in six Queens communities will now be able to move about freely on the Sabbath and during the High Holy Days thanks to a yearlong process which culminated at Queens Borough Hall last week.

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    The Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center – with the help of prominent community rabbis – have extended an eruv – a wire connected to light posts creating an enclosed boundary – linking six communities to the nursing and rehabilitation center, allowing those who practice Torah law to travel within those confines while carrying items during the Sabbath. The objective of the extension was to allow members of the community to push strollers and visit loved ones at Margaret Tietz without obstructing Torah law.

    During the Sabbath – which begins at sunset on Friday and ends after sunset on Saturday night – carrying car keys, foreign objects and pushing baby carriages is stanchly restricted. Having an eruv in the community allows Jewish people the right to carry and makes it easier to leave one’s home during the Sabbath. Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center fell outside the pre-existing eruv boundaries making it hard for Jewish people and grandchildren to spend time with their families during the Sabbath or the calendar’s High Holy Days; a reality that sparked the expansion initiative one year ago.

    “We have to thank Margaret Tietz for being committed to this project,” said Rabbi Richard Weiss of Young Israel of Hillcrest, who was described by Linda Spiegel, Director of Public Affairs for Margaret Tietz as “instrumental to the project’s success.”

    Rabbis, representatives from Margaret Tietz and their parent company, Beth Abraham Family of Health Services gathered at Queens Borough Hall to officially wrap up a year of work between the six neighborhoods and to celebrate the successful expansion. Marshall – who grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx – granted permits for the eruv extension without reservation and acknowledged how important the eruv is to the Jewish community.

    “It speaks to the great multi-ethnic community we have here in Queens,” said Marshall. “We have the most multi-ethnic community in the United States.”

    According to a proclamation read aloud by Marshall during the gathering, the permit on the eruv will last for 99 years, costing $1. The communities within the confines of the eruv include Hillcrest, Kew Garden Hills, Jamaica Estates, Briarwood, Holliswood and the Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.


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    12 Comments
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    13 years ago

    There is also a new western extension that just came up last week on the downtown manhattan eruv, covering the west village from 6th ave over past the Highline Park, from Houston Street up until 26th Street. Yasher koach on all the new eruvin! a freilich hanika!

    mewhoze
    mewhoze
    13 years ago

    great for queens

    13 years ago

    dont get it… all those neighborhood including the nursing home area was always under the erev and connected so everyone can carry on shabbos.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    This is wonderful news for yidden in Queens and will make it easy to move around on shabbos afternoons in the summer when many want to visit friends in other neighborhoods at a great distance. Only the most fanatical yeshivish crowd don’t hold by eruvim and they can sit at home if they object.

    cynic
    cynic
    13 years ago

    I’ve got to say I loved the phrase that on shabbat:
    “… carrying car keys … is stanchly restricted” (sic, should be “staunchly”)

    I guess now that folk in the eruv area can carry their car keys,
    they won’t have trouble driving….

    5TResident
    Noble Member
    5TResident
    13 years ago

    Some people will still have a problem crossing over the Grand Central Parkway and thinking that this is still a R’shus Hayachid.

    Kevin
    Kevin
    13 years ago

    Does anyone know if this eruv within bounds of Rav Moshe`s original psak ? Has Rav Dovid Shilta given any word? Any info is appreciated

    The_Truth
    Noble Member
    The_Truth
    13 years ago

    I still dont know why Queens is any different to Brooklyn in regards to allowing /not allowing an eruv per Reb Moshe Feinstein z”l psak. If the Queens eruv is now so large, why can’t a smaller eruv be permitted in Flatbush?
    If Reb Moshes Psak doesnt allow an Eruv in Flatbush, then why should Queens be good?
    Serious answers only, and would like some proof / maremekomos / stats for a real understanding of this matter.
    Thanks.