We came across an interesting article recently on jweekly.com about the establishment of a community eruv in the Richmond District.
In its simplest form, an eruv (Hebrew for “mixed together”) is a symbolic boundary within an area that marks a Jewish neighborhood.
The boundaries are in place so that observant Jews can carry objects from a private domain (such as one’s home) to a public domain (a shul, a neighbor’s house for dinner) on Shabbat — behaviors that, according to Jewish law, are otherwise forbidden. This can include behaviors as fundamental as parents carrying their infants from place to place.
The untrained eye wouldn’t notice the actual markers for the eruv in the Richmond District. On the corner of 16th Avenue and Clement there’s a bit of string and wire that marks the boundary.
The boundaries of an eruv — which can employ wire, fabric and wood as well as existing natural or man-made resources such as trees, fences or houses to form “gates” — can encompass just a few blocks around a synagogue, or an entire neighborhood or city.
The Richmond District eruv, which officially launched on November 23, 2012, is the fourth in the Bay Area. It runs east to west between 16th and 43rd avenues, and north to south from Clement Street to Golden Gate Park.
Maintaining the eruv is a group effort within the Jewish community. Rabbi Shlomo Zarchi of Congregation Chevra Thilim (751 25th Ave) inspects the boundary weekly to make sure it hasn’t been damaged. If all boundaries are intact, the word goes out and families are free to move about on Shabbat.
But if the eruv is “down”, observant Jews can’t carry anything outside their homes during that Shabbat. The community even employs social media to keep followers updated. Every Friday, @sferuv tweets out the status of the eruv.
According to those who rely on an eruv, its importance — both in facilitating the practicalities of day-to-day life for those who already live in the neighborhood, and its potential to strengthen a community and attract new Jewish residents — can’t be overestimated…
Read the full story at jweekly.com
Sarah B.
[via Eruv fever: Four Bay Area eruvs, including new one in S.F., are reshaping local Jewish demographics]
Seems bizarre to me. Do you know the history for this tradition/belief?
@Sue – If you haven’t already, click through to the full article on jweekly.com. There’s a lot more info and background there.
Sarah B.
If carrying food on Shabbat is forbidden, I wonder what Adonai thinks about Tweeting.
You are entitled to think this bizarre or hypocritical or whatever (I don’t and I’m not religious). There’s no good reason, though, to make fun of someone’s religious practices when they are not interfering with yours. I don’t see any political harm to non-Jews or non-religious Jews in the eruv.
The simplest explanation (if any explanation will help people who prefer to smirk) is that the bible says clearly that you must not work on Shabbat. What it doesn’t do is describe what counts as “work.” One result you might compare is that of the Samaritans, who — being anti-rabbinical — take the bible literally and therefore stay put in their house throughout the Shabbat, without fires of any kind, etc. Rabbinical Jews have tried to find ways to make it possible to accomplish much of what is important in daily life without sacrificing the spiritual gain made by not working.
As for tweeting: The tweet goes out BEFORE Shabbat. I think Adonai (or Hashem, or whatever his or her name is, since we don’t know it), would probably think that anyone making fun of people ought to figure out whether they would mind being ridiculed.
For the non-religious, such as myself–all religious habit seems bizarre, but that’s the spice of life. I live in that area and often see and was aware of a thriving Jewish community. Super cool. It’s the diversity that keeps the Richmond rockin.’ Thanks Sarah!
So wouldn’t that make this Virjewal? 🙂
When I first glanced at the pic I thought he was doing a “Saturday Night Fever” pose!