New Jersey Jewish News Story
South Orange springs Shabbat border surprise
In a move that has taken even the rabbis of local synagogues by surprise, the South Orange trustees voted unanimously Feb. 27 to approve the construction of an eruv around the town.
The vote came on the heels of a Maplewood township committee vote in December to approve the construction of an eruv there.
In South Orange, the request came not from a synagogue with a formal proposal but from
township resident Sharon Cohen, a member of the Orthodox Congregation Beth Ephraim-Maplewood Jewish Center. Made of strings and wires connecting existing telephone poles and other objects, an eruv marks a symbolic Shabbat boundary around a community. By Jewish law, observant Jews refrain from carrying objects or pushing strollers on Shabbat beyond their homes outside such a boundary.
“South Orange and Maplewood have joint schools, and they’re joined in other ways,” said Cohen. “Why not do this and be inclusive? What’s the reason not to? It doesn’t cost the town anything.”
None of the three South Orange synagogues and neither of the two Maplewood synagogues had any plans to undertake the construction or maintenance of an eruv or were even aware that approvals were being considered by the town.
Still, Cohen mentioned her idea to village president William Calabrese when she was in his South Orange pharmacy. He said that Cohen approached him to consider doing the same thing in South Orange that Maplewood is doing. “We hadn’t thought about it. She was the first person who brought it to our attention.… Everyone unanimously agreed we would designate the whole town for the eruv.”
Village administrator John Gross said it is now up to the local synagogues to move forward. Cohen, however, is a member of a Maplewood synagogue, and the South Orange synagogues made it clear that constructing the boundary would not top their agendas.
“We have no plans at the moment to undertake the expense and time and preparation for the construction of an eruv,” said Rabbi Marc Cooper of the Conservative Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange. “An eruv is a worthwhile aspect of serious Jewish communities but I don’t think it is something we are prepared to undertake.”
With no Orthodox synagogues located in South Orange, Cooper said, “In our society and suburbs and non-Orthodox Jewish communities, that particular observance is not upheld.”
Rabbi Francine Roston of Congregation Beth El in South Orange learned about the eruv approval when she read the South Orange trustees’ decision. Her surprise was evident as she considered the idea of having an eruv, but her enthusiasm was tempered by reality.
“I’m excited; I support the idea of an eruv,” said the Conservative rabbi. “We’ll have to see what the future brings.”
She said the idea might be welcomed by some congregants. “We have a number of Sabbath observers who walk to synagogue. There might be some number of people in the community interested.” Still, Beth El currently has no plans to construct an eruv, and she suggested that it might succeed as a community project rather than the effort of a single synagogue.
Cooper warmed slightly to that idea. “I certainly support the idea of having an eruv. If it should develop that local congregations in South Orange get together and say now that the initiative has been taken let’s move on it, we would explore that possibility seriously.”
Rabbi Dan Cohen of the Reform Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange was not available to be interviewed for this story.
Even if someone stepped forward to undertake the project, it is somewhat more complicated in South Orange than in Maplewood. In Maplewood, the eruv will be constructed using existing utility poles to demarcate the boundary. But in South Orange, telephone wires run underground. That means that rather than using public utility poles, the markers would have to be placed in the backyards of private homes. Residents would have to agree, individual home by individual home, to allow their property to be used.
Earlier this year, the borough of Tenafly agreed to end its five-year effort to block an eruv in that northern NJ community. The borough spent $200,000 to battle the eruv in various courts, which largely rejected its arguments that an eruv violated the separation of church and state.
Meanwhile, asked who she thought might construct the eruv, Cohen suggested speaking with Rabbi Sholom Bogomilsky of Beth Ephraim, the Orthodox synagogue in Maplewood. But he was just as surprised as the South Orange rabbis by the decision. He acknowledged that Cohen had approached him, but he had not planned to move forward. “We had spoken about the concept of an eruv in South Orange, but not to actually do it. She went on her own.”
He is pleased, however, with the result, saying, “It’s good, it’s good.” He added that he would consider such a project over the long term. “We’ll look into it and try to work something out. It takes a lot of prep work, and that will take a little time. I also want to talk to the other rabbis in South Orange. It’s definitely worth doing. It’s just a matter of time and ability.”
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