JACKSON - It could be the biggest eruv in North America but nobody — not even the Orthodox Jews who have spent years clamoring for one — seems to want it.

The council on Tuesday proposed a resolution granting municipal approval of a town-wide eruv — wires that symbolically allow practicing Orthodox Jews to carry objects on the Sabbath and certain holidays. Objects could mean anything from pushing a stroller to carrying an inhaler.

Council Vice President Barry Calogero said the resolution was designed to allow the town's Orthodox Jewish community to practice their faith while also ensuring that smaller eruvin, deemed illegal by the town, would be taken down.

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But the at-times coarse public discussion over the measure made plain that the issue wasn't just about the proliferation of wires strung from utility poles; it touched on changing culture, growth and development, and diversity in Jackson.

"We have a growing community of Orthodox people moving into town. We have to respect their culture, as they have to respect our laws," Calogero said. "As you drive through town, you see a lot of eruv wires of different shapes and construction. We tried to offer them the opportunity to, if they would like to, construct an eruv around the perimeter of Jackson, eliminating the need to have them individually around the town."

If constructed, the eruv would be larger than the 18-mile one enveloping Manhattan. But after an hour of pushback from angry council meeting attendees, the proposal was tabled.

Many accused the town of proposing the eruv as a way of cozying up to the Orthodox Jewish community or attempting to ease tensions related to a lawsuit brought by Agudath Israel, an Orthodox Jewish advocacy group.

It has filed a wide-ranging discrimination lawsuit against the town.

In its legal documents, the group argues that a measure effectively banning eruvin — as well as ordinances passed to ban construction of schools and dormitories — had "outrageously targeted" Orthodox Jews.

In its lawsuit, Agudath Israel submitted multiple social media posts (including those by current and former officials), public comments made at town meetings and comments on the Asbury Park Press Facebook page as evidence of "anti-Orthodox Jewish animus" in Jackson.

Avi Schnall, state director for Agudath Israel, said the proposed town-wide eruv an "absolute joke.

"This was probably a failed strategy to defend against the lawsuit, trying to rectify and repair some of the damage that's been done," Schnall said. "It was clearly done without any consultation with anyone from the Orthodox community.

"It's just so unprofessional that it's almost laughable — one town-wide eruv would take care of all the problems? It exposed that they have no clue what an eruv even means or what it's all about," Schnall said.

When Calogero said that the town wasn't "selling out to anyone," he was met with laughter and jeers.

One resident, William Marks of Grawtown Road, accused the town of "bending over" to Orthodox Jews.

"Look, I'm a taxpayer here. Now you're telling me that you're going to enclose me into a religious thing that I have nothing to do with," Marks said. "Don't think I'm against anyone in particular. I'm not. Let the township grow. But how fast do you want to grow this place?"

"I know there's 'them,'" said Marks, referring to Orthodox Jews. "But there's also 'us.'"

Eruv wars

While the idea of a town-wide eruv was a "step in the right direction," Jackson Eruv Association President Mordechai Burnstein said it was misguided and problematic.

Neither he nor his organization was consulted about the proposal, which he said didn't take into account the numerous rules and practicalities of eruv construction.

For example, there are specifications over the height of the lechim, or pole, and angle of the actual eruv wire, Burnstein said. And eruvin are not allowed to encircle uninhabitable land — like the huge tracts of undeveloped land and bodies of water throughout the town.

There's disagreement among rabbis over whether eruvin are allowed to cross highways — such as Interstate 195, which cuts the town virtually in half, and even smaller ones, such as Route 9 or West County Line Road.

"It's not a five-page handout. It's a couple hundred pages. Even I'm not up to date on it — I have to speak to a rabbi before I sign off on one," Burnstein said.

The town also didn't consider the cost of building and maintaining an eruv around the 100-square mile town, especially when only certain areas actually need one, Burnstein said.

While Calogero told residents that it wouldn't cost taxpayers anything, someone had to pay for it, Burnstein said.

"To go ahead and check an eruv that's 40 miles long, that's a very daunting task and it's virtually impossible," Burnstein said. "We're talking about an eruv that would cost millions of dollars. It's extremely cost-prohibitive."

Eruvin have been a controversial topic in Jackson over the last two years. In 2017, the council passed an ordinance that prohibited placing anything — from garbage pails to basketball hoops — on the right-of-way lawn between the sidewalk and the street.

Some Orthodox Jewish residents said the ordinance was a thinly veiled attempt to discourage them from building eruvin in two areas of the town. The poles are often placed in the right-of-way.

A few months later, the council repealed the ordinance as part of settlement talks with Agudath Israel. But that action only allowed for the construction of eruvin on utility poles and, in many parts of the town, utility poles aren't enough, Burnstein said.

"There are going to be circumstances in which we need a little more than utility poles," said Burnstein, whose attempts to build an eruv around certain neighborhoods with a high density of Orthodox Jews kickstarted the fight. "The poles just don't cover all the houses."

No Orthodox Jews spoke at Tuesday night's council meeting. Instead, the council chambers were packed with dozens of people, seemingly all of whom were in opposition to the resolution and the concept of any sort of eruv constructed with municipal approval.

Jennifer Cusanelli said that, since a town-wide eruv wouldn't necessarily be accepted by all practicing Orthodox Jews, that those smaller eruvin would still be in place.

"What are we going to do to regulate these," she asked. "Why do we have to bring our garbage cans and our basketball hoops at night (clearing the public right of way), when these are only needed 53 days throughout the entire year?"

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is happening. Contact him at 732-643-4223, mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.