Eruv uproar: Orthodox Jews’ ring of string stirs debate

HALLANDALE BEACH – A simple fence made of string has become the latest religious symbol to spark a controversy in South Florida.

Orthodox Jews who want to leave their homes on the Sabbath need to create an eruv — a ring of string that surrounds a neighborhood and represents a symbolic extension of the home.

The reason they want it: “Under Jewish law on Shabbat, it is forbidden to carry anything — regardless of its weight, size or purpose — from a ‘private’ domain into a ‘public’ one or vice versa,” according to Chabad.org. Even carrying a prayer book from one’s home to a synagogue is forbidden, unless there is an eruv.

But making a eruv usually means stretching string or fishing wire between poles on public property. And that is the issue.

Requests for eruvs have turned controversial in cities around the country, with critics arguing they encroach on public land and are an affront to the separation of church and state.

The latest controversy is taking place in Hallandale, where rabbis have been pushing the city to allow an eruv near the beach. They want to install nine poles at two beachfront parks so they can encir-

cle the condos where congregants live.

An eruv “is usually large enough to include entire neighborhoods with homes, apartments and synagogues,” Chabad.org says.

The poles would range in height from 8 to 16 feet.

But under Hallandale Beach’s’s rules, no one can dig a hole or install a pole in a city-owned park, City Attorney Jennifer Merino said.

And if they allow the eruv, it would open the door for other requests on city land.

“I’m not telling them they can’t build an eruv,” Merino said. “The commission would have to waive that rule on the books. Once that rule is waived for one party, it makes it more difficult for us to decline other requests.”

Eruvs already exist in South Florida, from Miami Beach to Hollywood and Boca Raton.

In 2014, a group of atheists objected to an eruv that had been in place since 1985 in Miami Beach. But city officials backed the eruv.

Oren Stier, a professor of Jewish studies at Florida International University, said sometimes the controversy stems from a misunderstanding over what an eruv is.

“An eruv is just a boundary marker,” he said. “It’s not some kind of hocuspocus. The eruv allows Torah-observant Jews to avail themselves to a legal loophole so they can do things they would not otherwise do on the Sabbath.”

Mayor Keith London said waiving the rules for the eruv would set the city up for other religious requests that might not be so tame.

“If we open up public property for one, we open up public property for all,” he said during a recent meeting. “I’m not comfortable with opening it for all.”

An atheist activist known for his crusade against religious symbols has already threatened to put up a 6-foot-high phallic symbols at a beachfront park if the eruv is approved. Two years ago, Hallandale Beach reluctantly allowed Chaz Stevens to place a satanic cross on the front lawn of City Hall after he complained that a menorah, Christmas tree and Nativity scene were on display there during the holidays.

Stevens made national news in 2013 for bringing a “Seinfeld”-inspired Festivus pole of beer cans to the Florida Capitol after a Nativity scene was allowed in the rotunda. In 2014, a holiday display from the Satanic Temple with a diarama of an angel falling into hell made its first appearance at the Capitol in Tallahassee.

Two years later, Preston Smith was allowed to display an oversized satanic pentagram in a Boca Raton park in protest of a nearby menorah, manger scene and Christmas tree.

Stier, the expert on Jewish issues, says the eruv is not the same as a menorah or other religious symbol.

“These are just poles,” he said. “They don’t have Jewish stars on them. They are not decorative.”

The rabbis and their congregants in Hallandale Beach say they are not giving up.

Rabbi Levi Tennenhaus says Hallandale Beach’s coastal neighborhoods had an eruv until two years ago, when utility poles along A1A were placed underground. He says the string for the eruv had been attached to those poles.

“The eruv was there for over 20 years,” he said. “No one ever complained. Nobody even knew there was an eruv.”

Rabbi Leibel Kudan says his 4-year-old daughter uses a wheelchair and must stay at home on the Sabbath, which is observed from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

“Its need is most felt by members of my community with physical limitations,” he said. “They can’t carry items, a bottle of water or keys, or push a wheelchair, without the accommodation of an eruv.”

Kudan says the string for the eruv would blend into the surroundings and not block anyone’s view.

The FIU professor suggested the city find a creative solution.

“When cities have these debates over whether to allow an eruv, it’s not like anyone is going to be inconvenienced by it,” Stier said. “To the rest of the outside world, it sounds kind of ridiculous. But in this country, we have a strong respect for religious freedom.”