MAY 7, 2003

GOVERNMENT
Jewish Sabbath, public spaces, legal disputes

State by State
A comprehensive list of eruvin does not exist, but there are several ways to find eruvin in your area or proponents of them:
• Contact the Kashrut authority, which lists rabbis who oversee kosher practices and products in cities around the country.
• A list of more than 60 eruvin and related web pages in the United States is maintained by Boston Orthodox.
• The Eruvin in North America site offers a list of about 40 eruvin across the country, with contact information.
• The Anti-Defamation League, which fights bigotry and anti-Semitism, has been an outspoken supporter of the Tenafly eruv. The site has contact information for regional offices.

IN THE NORTHEAST
CONNECTICUT
• Agudath Sholom Synagogue in Stamford, Conn., was founded in 1889. To learn about Stamford's eruv, contact Rabbi Mark Dratch, 203-358-2200. There are also eruvin in Hartford, New Haven and Norwalk.

MASSACHUSETTS
• View a history and status of the Greater Boston Eruv.
• Contact Dr. Nehemia Polen, professor of Jewish thought and director of the new Hasidic Text Institute at Hebrew College in Newton Centre, 617-559-8600 or 800-866-4814.
• Rabbi Rachmiel Liberman of Brookline, Mass., knows of three eruvin in the Boston area - in Sharon, Greater Boston and South Brookline. Contact Liberman, a member of the Orthodox Lubavitch sect, 617-469-5000.
• Rabbi Joseph Polak at Boston University's office of the university chaplain is knowledgeable about eruvin. Contact 617-353-7200.

RHODE ISLAND
• Contact Marc and Cheryl Diamond about the Providence eruv at 401-272-4683.
• The web site of the political science department at Providence College has a case study discussing the display of religious symbols on public property.

IN THE EAST
DELAWARE
• To inquire about eruvin in Delaware, contact Vaad Hakashrus of Wilmington, 302-762-2705.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
• Contact The Kosher Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington, 202-291-6052.
• Bonnie Morris, adjunct faculty at George Washington University and Georgetown University, can talk about Hassidic women and female identity among ultra-Orthodox Jews. Contact 202-994-6942, drbon@gwu.edu.

MARYLAND
• There are eruvin in Baltimore and Silver Spring. Contact Rabbi Moshe Heineman, an eruv expert and rabbinic adviser at HaKashrus of Baltimore (also called Star K) in Pikesville, 410-484-4110.
• Contact Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, 410-484-7200.

NEW JERSEY
• Professor Allan Nadler, a Jewish scholar and former Orthodox rabbi, is chairman of the Jewish Studies Department at Drew University in Madison. He is familiar with the Tenafly case. Contact 973-408-3222 or 973-763 -7788, anadler@drew.edu.

NEW YORK
• There are roughly 20 eruvin in New York state.
• In West Hempstead, the Young Israel community of Orthodox has established an eruv. Contact the synagogue office, 516-481-7429. See a map of the eruv.
• In New York City, discussion continues over whether the entire island of Manhattan can be bounded by a single eruv. Read a Yeshiva University article about documents dating back to as early as 1907 in which rabbis weighed in on the subject.
• Read an article, "Carrying, Eruvin and Manhattan," in which Raphael Grunfeld describes how Jewish law looks at the question.
• Contact Rabbi Adam Mintz, spiritual leader of the Lincoln Square Synagogue and an expert on the Manhattan eruv, 212-874-6100.
• Elliot Wolfson, a professor at New York University, has expertise on Orthodox Judaism and Jewish mysticism. Contact 212-998-8986 (office), 212-998-8980 (department), erw1@nyu.edu.
• Professor Samuel Heilman is Harold Proshansky Professor in Jewish Studies and Sociology at the City University of New York, 718- 997-2832, heilman@qc.edu.
• Hunter College cultural anthropologist and professor Susan Lees studies eruvin and can discuss the Tenafly case. She teaches at Hunter College and City University of New York. Contact: 212-772-5424 (office), 212-772-5410 (department of anthropology).

PENNSYLVANIA
• The community of Yardley has an eruv. Contact office manager Claire Uhry for sources at the (Conservative) Congregation Beth El, 215-493-1707.
• See links to eruv maps (including Elkins Park, northeast Philadelphia, lower Merion, Overbrook Park and Wynwood, and University City), descriptions and congregations of Orthodox Jewish Philadelphia. See information about an eruv maintained by the Lower Merion Synagogue.

IN THE SOUTHEAST
FLORIDA
• The Miami Beach eruv is more than 20 years old, according to Pinchas Weberman, president of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of South Florida. Contact 305-865-9851.

GEORGIA
• Two Orthodox synagogues, Congregation Anshei Chesed and Congregation Beit Tefillah, share an eruv in the Atlanta area. Contact Rabbi Yossi New at Beit Tefillah, 404-843-2464.
• Ask Rabbi Reuven B. Stein or Rabbi Ilan Feldman at the Atlanta Kashruth Commission for information about other eruvin in the region, 404-634-4063.

VIRGINIA
• For information on the Richmond, Va., eruv, contact Rabbi Zvi Ron at congregation Keneseth Beth Israel, 804-288-7953.

IN THE SOUTH
LOUISIANA
• New Orleans does not have an eruv, but Rabbi Zelig Rivkin at that city's Chabad House can describe the life of Orthodox Jews there. Contact 504-866-5164. Read an article from the Times Picayune on the old Jewish district of New Orleans, reproduced on the kosherzone.com Jewish guides site.

TENNESSEE
• See a map of the Memphis eruv at the home page of Anshei Sphard-Beth El Emeth Congregation. Contact Rabbi Joel Finkelstein, 901-682-1611.

IN THE MIDWEST
ILLINOIS
• See the Chicago Eruv Inc. site to learn about the West Rogers Park eruv. Other Chicago-area eruvin are in Buffalo Grove, Lakeview, Lincolnwood/Peterson Park and Skokie. For information on eruvin in the greater Chicago area, contact Rabbi Benjamin Shandalov at the Chicago Rabbinical Council, 773-465-3900.

INDIANA
• View a map of the Indianapolis eruv and check its status at JewishIndy.com.

KANSAS
• Based in Prairie Village, Kan., the Mainstream Coalition is a political action committee that fights legislation tat would allow the state or federal government to sanction displays of specific religious beliefs or symbols. Contact 913-649-3326.

MICHIGAN
• Professor Corwin Smidt is director of the Henry Institute and the Department of Political Science at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. He can discuss the broader issue of religion in public life. Contact 616-957-6233, smid@calvin.edu.

MISSOURI
• View the history of the St. Louis eruv, which documents the elaborate negotiations of eruv supporters with the local and state politicians. Call the St. Louis eruv hotline, 314-863-1811. Dr. Joel Garbow, 314-863-0070, or Stuart Zimbalist, 314-889-7052, president of the St. Louis eruv, can answer questions about the history and use of the eruv.

NEBRASKA
• Call the kosher authorities in Omaha about area eruvin and who uses them. Contact the Cap K, 402-551-6609.

OHIO
• The east side of Columbus, Ohio, has an eruv which includes Agudas
Achim Synagogue, Beth Jacob Congregation and Congregation Ahavas Shalom. Contact 614-898-2807 to check its status.
• Contact the Cleveland Eruv Society at 216-586-9222 for the status of eruvin in Cleveland Heights, University Heights, Beachwood, South Euclid and Shaker Heights.

WISCONSIN
• Contact Rabbi Mendel Senderovic about the Glendale eruv in Milwaukee, 414-873-4398.
• For information about the Mequon eruv call 262-242 8913.

IN THE SOUTHWEST
ARIZONA
• In Phoenix, call Chabad Lubavitch Arizona to ask about any eruvin in the region, 602-944-2753.

COLORADO
• Contact Yaakov Watkins, excutive director of the East Denver eruv, 303-355-1732. He is also working with the suburban community of Greenwood Village, which is in the final stages of planning construction of an eruv.
• The Orthodox Union West Coast lists member synagogues in Western states, including Colorado.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
The Orthodox Union West Coast lists member synagogues in Western states.

CALIFORNIA
• Check the status of the Los Angeles metro eruv.
• Richard Hecht, professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, specializes in Judaic studies and the intersection of religion, politics and culture. Hecht has a particular interest in the politics of space with regard to religion and can discuss the conflict between Orthodox religious groups and city governments over eruvin and the Mishnah's tractate in which the laws governing the construction and use of eruvin are set out. Contact 805-893-4552, ariel@religion.ucsb.edu.
• Beverly Hills has two eruvin, according to the Palo Alto Weekly. The original, built in the mid-1970s, was encircled by a larger one about 12 years ago to accommodate the growing Orthodox Jewish population. To learn about the city's relationship with the eruv, contact Beverly Hills City Attorney Larry Wiener, 310-285-1000.
• In Palo Alto in 2000, an eruv proposal became one of the biggest controversies in the town's history. After considering for nearly a year whether to allow Palo Alto Orthodox to construct an eruv on city property, a policy was adopted that allowed it in theory but made it practically unlikely, according to Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman of Palo Alto's Orthodox Congregation Emek Beracha. Feldman predicts that an eruv eventually will be built. Contact him at 650-326-5001. Contact Jack N. Rakove, political science professor at Stanford University and eruv proponent, 650-723-4514, rakove@stanford.edu. Consult a search of the Palo Alto Weekly's online site for "eruv" for many story links. Contact Palo Alto City Attorney Ariel Pierre Calonne, 650-329-2171. Read an undated article in the Jewish Bulletin of Northern California describing a Palo Alto city meeting on a proposed eruv there.
• Benjamin J. Hubbard, professor and chairman of comparative religion at California State University, Fullerton, co-authored America's Religions: An Educator's Guide to Beliefs and Practices (Libraries Unlimited, 1997) and has expertise in Jewish studies. Contact 949-646-9687, bhubbard@fullerton.edu.
• Rabbi Pinchas Giller, assistant professor at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, is a scholar of the Kabbalah and Old World religions. Contact 310-476-9777, ext. 550, pgiller@uj.edu. (Ed. note: The University of Judaism merged with Brandeis-Bardin to become American Jewish University in 2007.)

WASHINGTON
• Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation was founded early in the century by Jews coming to Seattle from Turkey. The synagogue maintains an eruv in the Madison Park neighborhood. Contact Rabbi Simon Benzaquen, 206-723-3028. Members of the Sephardic Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, which was founded in the early 1900s by Jews from the Island of Rhodes, share the Madison Park eruv. To learn about how the eruv figures into the life of the community, call Rabbi Salomon Cohen-Scali, 206-722-5500.