Eruv

Chabad-Lubavitch's position on the eruv (the boundary that permits carrying on the Sabbath), the Crown Heights eruv dispute, and the limits of Chabad's role in eruv litigation

An eruv is a symbolic boundary, usually made of wires and poles, that under Jewish law allows Sabbath-observant Jews to carry objects outside the home on the Sabbath. Eruvin have caused many planning and legal disputes in the United States and the United Kingdom. Most of these involved Orthodox communities in general rather than Chabad. This page covers what the sources show about Chabad specifically:

• the Lubavitcher Rebbe's guarded position on city eruvin;
• the Crown Heights rabbinate's long refusal to accept an eruv, and the internal dispute over one in 2021.

The Rebbe's position (Chabad-side)

In a 1964 letter about a proposed eruv in Manhattan, published by CrownHeights.info from the archive of his secretary Nissan Mindel, the Rebbe wrote: "as a matter of principle, my opinion is that where according the din an eiruv can be instituted, it should be instituted". He went on to say that "it is an absolute necessity, in my opinion, that the eiruv, if one is feasible at all according to din, should be carried out in the utmost secrecy". Its purpose, he wrote, "would be not to enable a Jew to carry his tallis to shul on Shabbos, but only to relieve those who already transgress the Shabbos by carrying things". He gave no view on whether Manhattan itself qualified, leaving that to "the Rabbinical authorities who have thoroughly investigated the pertinent details". ChabadInfo has published further replies from the Rebbe on proposed eruvin in Miami, Australia and elsewhere. It says they show "the Rebbe's deep concerns about any such proposal".

Crown Heights

Anash.org (Chabad-side) states that "no eruv was ever constructed in Crown Heights". It attributes this to "the explicit instructions of the Rabbonim who were familiar with the Rebbe's guidance". It says the Rebbe told Hirshel Chitrik, then head of the Vaad Hakahal, "that an eruv should not be allowed in Crown Heights".

According to the same report, "certain individuals" had more recently "constructed an eruv of their own". In September 2021 Anash.org published a letter from the Crown Heights Beis Din in response, signed by Rabbis Avrohom Osdoba and Yosef Braun. In Anash.org's translation, the letter said that building an eruv without local rabbinic approval "borders on the destruction of Yiddishkeit". It ruled: "It is absolutely prohibited to carry on Shabbos in the streets of Crown Heights, and the 'eruv' is as nonexistent."

Editor's note: only the Beis Din's side of the 2021 dispute has been verified. This page has not found a statement from the group that built the Crown Heights eruv.

Eruv litigation and Chabad

Editor's note: the leading US eruv cases do not, on the sources checked, involve Chabad.

• Tenafly Eruv Association v. Borough of Tenafly, 309 F.3d 144 (3d Cir. 2002), is the leading federal eruv ruling. This page found no Chabad role in it. (The judgment text could not be fetched for this page, so this has not been checked against it.)
• In the Westhampton Beach dispute, local residents sued the East End Eruv Association in 2007. JTA's report does not mention Chabad.
• In the UK, Barnet Council's planning committee rejected a North London eruv by 11 votes to 7 in 1993, and the council approved one in 2012. Neither report mentions Chabad or Lubavitch.

These cases are therefore not attributed to Chabad. If a source names a Chabad body as a party to an eruv dispute, it should be added here.

See also

• Kapparot
• Public menorahs