The following article was printed in the December 17, 1978 New York Times. For almost a half century, the Highland Park Community has had an eruv. Over the years, the eruv has grown in size and in the technology we use. We certainly didn’t have a webpage back in 1978, and the only way you knew whether the eruv was up or down in 1978 was to call Rabbi Raymon himself and ask him while he was busy preparing for Shabbat.
Congregation Ahavas Achim is now in Highland Park along with ten other Orthodox synagogues — all located inside the eruv in both Edison and Highland Park. Two student community centers are located at Rutgers in New Brunswick and are also in the eruv.
Highland Park: Site of State's First Eruv
By Janice Selinger
When Mrs. Irwin Asher moved to nearby Edison a little more than a year ago, she found it difficult to make friends.
The primary time for socializing was Saturday, and for the last seven years Mrs. Asher had spent her Saturdays at home with her children. It wasn't just that Mrs. Asher was a doting mother; she simply was observing the restrictions of the Jewish Sabbath.
Many Sabbath rules, such as the prohibitions against smoking or writing on Saturday, are ignored by nearly all American Jews. However, Highland Park, like a number of other suburban communities throughout the country, is witnessing a resurgence of interest in observing the Sabbath.
There are 39 types of work prohibited on the Sabbath. One is the carrying of anything from the home to the street. This meant that Mrs. Asher could neither carry her 2½‐year‐old child from her house nor push the child in a carriage.
But since July 1, the lives of the Ashers and other religious Jews in Highland Park and part of Edison have become a bit easier on the Sabbath, for it was then that the area was, in a way, “fenced in” from the outside world.
This transition came about through the establishment of an eruv — New Jersey's first — by Rabbi Pesach Raymon of Ahavas Achim Congregation in New Brunswick [Note: Congregation Ahavas Achim is now in Highland Park].
Rabbi Raymon, who has been with his congregation for 40 years, worked for almost two years setting up this eruv. An eruv — the word means “to mix the domains” — allows observant Jews to consider the public domain as private, the street as an extended home.
Thus, Mrs. Asher could push her baby carriage, and her husband could carry a prayer shawl to the synagogue on Saturdays.
There is a tremendous amount of literature and “responsa” (posing a question of Jewish law to a greater authority) about eruvs, Rabbi Raymon said. But the clergyman found that Highland Park had an easier time, at least financially, in setting up its eruv than other places.
For example, Rabbi Raymon noted, it cost Highland Park's Jewish community about $2,000 to establish an eruv, as compared to $15,000 spent by the Jews living in Long Beach, L.I. The difference was attributed to the natural boundaries here; Long Beach, on the other hand, had to string up a lot more wire to get its eruv in working order.
Highland Park had the natural boundaries of the Raritan River and existing railroad and Public Service Electric & Gas Company overhead wires to work with in setting up its eruv. It extends from the Raritan River bridge over Route 1* westward to the railroad span on River Road. It then follows the tracks of the railroad to Sutton Lane, Highland Park; continues following the Public Service poles to the Marina Garden Apartments in Edison [Note: now called the Valley Manor Apartments and are no longer considered in the eruv.] and then proceeds back to the Route 1* Bridge.
The law says that, in order to form an eruv, a community must build a fence at least 40 inches high around the whole community. But, Rabbi Raymon asked, “Who can do a thing like that?”
As a result, natural boundaries such as the Raritan River, which separates Highland Park from New Brunswick, also are acceptable.
Eruvs have existed for years in Jerusalem and in Plonge, Lithuania, where Rabbi Raymon spent his childhood. However, they have just become popular in the United States.
Highland Park has New Jersey's first. Eruvs also exist not only in Long Beach, but also in Kew Gardens, Queens; Monsey, N.Y., and Baltimore. And since Highland Park's eruv was set up, Rabbi Raymon said, he has had inquiries from other Jewish communities throughout the state.
Teaneck had attempted unsuccessfully to set up its own eruv in the past. Now, according to Rabbi Raymon, the Jewish community there seems interested in trying again, [Note: Teaneck now has an eruv.]
There is a controversy over whether Manhattan qualifies as an eruv because of its natural boundaries. Some scholars, Rabbi Raymon said contend that it does; others maintain that the bridges and tunnels break up the natural boundary.
Rabbi Raymon said that the demand for an eruv in Highland Park arose because of the recent influx of Jews interested in following the laws of the Sabbath.
“Most of them are professionals physicists, chemists, professors, lawyers and medical doctors — and they are all strictly observant,” he observed. “They wouldn't write or smoke on the Sabbath, and many found it very inconvenient when they couldn't even take the baby in a carriage to visit someone.”
“When we lived in Boston, we had the same problem,” Mrs. Asher said. “Now it is convenient. You are able to carry your key with you. You can take your coat off if it gets too hot, or carry a rain hat if it looks like rain.”
According to Rabbi Raymon, some people thought that the eruv meant that they could now do whatever they wanted.
“They thought the eruv permitted it,” he said. “I had to deliver a sermon to straighten this out.”
One Highland Park couple told a group of friends at a party how wonderful the eruv was because they could now play tennis on Saturday. Technically, Rabbi Raymon said, they were right because the eruv would allow them to “carry” a tennis ball to and on the court.
However, the clergyman added that he would not recommend tennis as a pastime for observant Jews on the Sabbath. It would go against the idea of the Sabbath, Rabbi Raymon asserted, for it would make it seem like any other day.
* The original article mistakenly says the Route 1 Bridge. However, the actual bridge is the Albany Street Bridge on Route 27.
Letter to the Editor — Jan. 7, 1979
I was happy to read that the tiigt land Park‐Edison “eruv” received recognition in The New York Times on Dec. 17. (A designated eruv enables those Jews who observe the Sabbath to consider the public domain as private, the street as an extended home.
However, the names of several individuals who are worthy of recognition were omitted from the article.
They include Mark Epstein, chief legal counsel for the project, who donated more than 50 hours of legal time; David Hanfling and Barry Schreiber, who co‐chaired the project; Rabbi Israel Rivkin of Congregation Ahavas Achim, who spearheaded and supervised the project, and Messrs. Hogan, Lawson and Good of New Jersey Bell and Messrs. Rossmeyer and Hinton of Public Service Gas and Electric, without whose excellent cooperation this oroiect never could have come to frui- tion.
Rebecca Rivkin, Edison