Upper Saddle River tentatively settles eruv litigation

UPPER SADDLE RIVER — The borough has reached a tentative agreement that will permit a Rockland County Orthodox Jewish group to expand its eruv through town, but it will be rerouted as close to the New York State line as possible, local officials announced Wednesday.

If approved by the Borough Council, the settlement will end federal litigation with the Bergen Rockland Eruv Association, which had filed suit against the town after borough officials demanded that the eruv be taken down.

The terms of the settlement allow the Orthodox group to extend its partially complete eruv, which is already on Sparrowbush Road, to about seven utility poles along Old Stone Church Road, according to a Wednesday message from the borough’s emergency notification system.

In the coming weeks, however, the settlement calls for the eruv — marked by white PVC pipes on utility poles — to be removed from poles along Old Stone Church Road and most of Weiss Road and rerouted “as close to the New York border as geography will allow,” the message states. All the newly installed pipes, or "lechis," will be black plastic, rather than white PVC, according to the message.

The full terms of the settlement are still under negotiation and will be released to the public in the coming days, according to the alert.

MONTVALE: Borough approves settlement that will allow eruv in northern part of town

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LAWSUIT: Judge urges Upper Saddle River to settle eruv litigation

The eruv association, based in Monsey, New York, and five Orthodox Jewish residents of Rockland County filed suit when the borough ordered the eruv construction to be halted over the summer and demanded its removal. Borough officials have argued that the eruv violates local ordinances barring signs and other material on utility poles and was constructed without municipal consent.

An eruv is a symbolic perimeter within which Orthodox Jews can perform tasks they otherwise could not on the Sabbath, such as pushing strollers and carrying keys.

In the suit, the eruv group alleged that the borough's interruption of the eruv project unlawfully threatened the rights of Orthodox Jews to fully practice their religion.

In January, a U.S. District Court judge urged the two sides to broker a settlement, after questioning the borough's claim that the eruv project required municipal approval and violated local zoning ordinances.

The association reached an agreement with Orange & Rockland Utilities, the company that owns the poles, to install the white PVC pipes over the summer.

The suit alleged that officials caved to public pressure from residents who expressed fear that the eruv signaled the beginning of an expansion of communities of ultra-Orthodox Jews from Rockland County into New Jersey.

The group also filed lawsuits against Mahwah and Montvale after officials in those towns attempted to block the eruv for similar reasons.

Both towns recently approved settlements that permit the eruv.

Email: nobile@northjersey.com