Eruv

Click here to view in Google Maps

Call the Eruv hotline on Friday afternoon to check the status: (201) 568-3116.

Englewood Eruv - Please read the following notes carefully to understand the difference between the green and blue shaded regions.

After much hard work over the past two years, the Eruv serving Englewood, NJ has been updated and improved. Rabbi Chaim (Howard) Jachter, the Rav ha-Machshir of the Eruv, and Michael Adler, Mashgiach of the Eruv, have worked diligently towards this effort. Thank you, as well, to Danny Popper for creating the google Eruv map and to Ari Davidovics who helps Michael maintain the Eruv. The community owes a great debt of gratitude to Rabbi Chanan Jacobson ob"m who helped to create and maintain the original Eruv for many years.

In an effort to maintain an Eruv of the highest quality while encompassing as much area as we can, the Englewood Jewish Community has established an Eruv with two distinct sections. This distinction reflects a debate amongst contemporary authorities as to whether Route 4 is considered an intercity highway that cannot be included in an Eruv. Approximately 90% of our Eruv satisfies the most stringent opinions who do not permit Route 4 to be included in an Eruv. This area is identified as Area A and is delineated on the google Eruv map as the green shaded region. A much smaller area, identified as Area B, is delineated on the google Eruv map as the blue shaded region. By necessity, Area B includes Route 4 but remains in accordance with the view of Rav Moshe Feinstein and the practice of the Jerusalem Eruv (which encompasses the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway).

Please note the following important items:

(1)   Residents who live south of Route 4 (Rockwood Place and Cross Creek, for example) can remain in Area A while crossing to the other side of Route 4 by crossing either at Broad Avenue (new update as of Fall 2012) or at Jones Road. 

(2)   Please be aware, especially residents who live on North Woodland Street or to the east thereof, that the Eruv boundary running along North Woodland Street crosses over the street in several places and therefore great care should be taken to stay within the Eruv when walking along that street. Please zoom in on the google Eruv map to see the precise locations of the utility poles that hold the Eruv boundary. Poles can be identified by the number listed on them and which are identified on the google Eruv map as well. Efforts are currently underway to include the entire street and the area to the east. We will inform the community when they are completed.

(3)   Those intending to walk to Teaneck and stay within the Eruv should be aware that Forest Avenue west of Van Brunt Street is only within Area B. To stay within Area A, one must use Englewood Avenue or Palisade Avenue or other options found in the green shaded region of the google Eruv map. 

Rabbi Chaim Poupko
Rabbi Menachem Genack
Rabbi Zev Reichman
 

The Early History of the Englewood Eruv

The first attempt to establish an Eruv in Englewood was initiated by Rabbi Isaac Swift O"BM in the early 1970s. This attempt was foiled by the inability to reconcile Halachic requirements with the physical constraints imposed by the utility companies. The efforts resumed in 1978, under the joint leadership of Rabbi Swift and Rabbi Moshe Chaim Sosevsky, rabbi of Congregation Shomrei Emunah. They were able to persuade the utility companies to accept larger lechis that were acceptable to the Eruv's posek, Rav Shimon Eider of Lakewood. The rabbis, working with a committee of volunteers that included Milton Houpt, Alan Lubarr, Allen Oppenheim, and Charles Popper, among others, were able to construct an Eruv around the core Englewood community. That area was bounded by Grand Avenue, Palisade Avenue, Woodland Street and Van Nostrand Avenue. The Eruv became operational during Succot, 1979. Weekly checking and maintenance was provided by a group of volunteers, coordinated by Charles Popper.

The Eruv had an immediate impact on the community, and calls for expansion poured in. We were also able, at that time, to negotiate additional flexibility from the utility companies, who permitted the use of a new type of plastic lechi that extended all the way up the poles to a point immediately below the wires, thereby greatly enhancing the Halachic reliability. The committee proceeded with two major expansions - the "Cumberland" area south of Van Nostrand and East Hill, between Palisade and Booth. The design and construction, as well as the subsequent weekly checking and maintenance, continued to be performed by Charles and an expanded crew of volunteers.