Eruv Poles Explained

Once again, the issue of an “eruv” being built (or extended) in a community has brought about much ugliness. Along with the countless articles being written and posted that describes, or attempts to describe, the legal and social issues that come into play, a common misperception of the purpose of the “eruv,” or at least the physical aspect of the “eruv” (meaning its poles and wires), has been repeatedly repeated. I will therefore try to correct this misunderstanding about what the poles at the center of the legal issues are intended to accomplish.

There are 39 categories of activity that are prohibited on the Sabbath, with one of them being “carrying,” i.e. transporting an item from one place to another. Not all “carrying” is prohibited; I can carry anything (as long as its use is permitted on the Sabbath) from my kitchen to my dining room, or from anyplace in my house to another place in the house, even from ne end to the other, or from the basement to the attic and vise versa. As a matter of fact, the size of my house is irrelevant; if, for some reason, I would (and could afford to) purchase a house (or building) that was miles long, and I used it for living purposes (as opposed to, say, a place to grow plants indoors), I could carry from one end all the way to the other, despite it being miles away. So the first thing that needs to be clarified is when and where carrying on the Sabbath is prohibited.

These laws are very complex, with an entire tractate of the Talmud dedicated primarily to it (not to mention numerous lengthy discussions on the subject in other tractates of the Talmud). I will limit this discussion to only deal with things that impact the community eruv, specifically the physical boundary that the poles and wire are designed to create.

Biblically, the prohibition against carrying applies to transferring an item from a public area to a private area (and vice versa) and carrying something a distance of four cubits within a public area. However, not all “areas” fall into the category of being “private” or “public.” Without getting into a complicated discussion of what characteristics an area needs to have in order to be considered “public,” suffice it to say that, pertaining to an eruv making a difference, it would be a town square in a very large city (and the streets that connect to it), or a public thoroughfare that goes from end-to-end in a very large city or metropolis (and the streets that connect to it). If a city is not extremely large (or have a vast amount of people traveling through it on a daily basis), it does not qualify as being a “public” domain. According to the opinion that most rely on (especially if they carry with an area enclosed by an eruv), there are very few cities or communities that qualify as being a “public” domain.

What about those areas that aren’t private, nor qualify as being “public”? Such an area, referred to in the Talmud as a “karmalis,” has no biblical prohibitions of carrying, neither transferring an item from a public or private domain to or from it, nor carrying an item within it (even more than four cubits). However, because of the similarity between a “public” area and a “karmalis,” and a concern that carrying to/from/within it could easily be confused with doing so to/from/with a “public” area, a rabbinic prohibition was placed on carrying to/from/within a “karmalis” as well. Which brings about a very serious consequence; not being able to carry anything outside the home (or any “private” area, such as a synagogue or hotel).

Some things could be easily managed. For example, anything needed in synagogue could be brought there before the Sabbath. Others, though, would be a major inconvenience, such as parents not being able to leave the home the entire Sabbath until their youngest child can walk to the place the parent wants to go, or worse (i.e, those who use the synagogue’s Succah couldn’t carry their food to it on the Sabbath). So in order to accomplish what was intended by the rabbinical prohibition without making observing the Sabbath too burdensome, the concept of an “eruv” was introduced, enabling the “karmalis” to have the same status as a private domain, within which things can be carried on the Sabbath.

Because the eruv cannot impact a “public” domain (as it can only be used where carrying is only rabbinically prohibited), and the area/boundaries of the eruv, within which one can carry, (and its formation and upkeep, including communicating when it is “down,” such as in severe weather, and can not be relied on, or is still “up” despite severe weather) is made known, there is much less of a concern that anyone will violate the biblical prohibitions associated with a “public” domain, while, at the same time, the impact of extending the prohibition to a “karmalis” does not severely impact the communal or private life of Sabbath observers.

This concept is attributed to none other than King Solomon, and is an example of how his extreme wisdom was used to solve several issues (in this case, protecting the sanctity of the Sabbath while not impeding the ability to appreciate and enjoy it).

It is important to note that an eruv does not make anything that was biblically prohibited permissible; it only impacts the ability to carry something when it would have otherwise been rabbinically prohibited. “They” said carrying to/from/within a “karmalis” is problematic, and “they” also said that this prohibition can be avoided.

In order to transform a “karmalis” into an area with the same characteristics as a private home, thereby allowing carrying to/from/within it as if it were one big private property, one of the things that has to happen is that it be physically enclosed. There are numerous ways to enclose an area to make it eligible to be able to carry within it. Obviously, a gated community doesn’t need any additional structure in order to be considered “enclosed.” A sea wall, or a cliff, qualifies, and nothing further needs to be done on that part of the “enclosure.” Many community eruvim (“eruvim” is the plural form of “eruv”) have, as part of its boundary, an area where there is already a physical fence or wall, so no further structure is needed there. Usually, though, a large portion of the boundary of the area to be enclosed has no physical structure, which is where the poles and wires come in.

Just as one can carry within his or her home even when the door is open, as the doorway itself is considered a part of the structure/enclosure, a community eruv can be considered a valid enclosure if part (or, according to most, even if all) of the enclosure is a “doorway,” or a series of “doorways.” A “doorway”consists of the frame of the door; the floor, the top, and two sides. In an eruv, the poles are the sides of the doorway, and (usually) wire is used for the top. (It cannot be too wide of an opening, or it loses its status as being a “doorway,” and there is no enclosure.) That is all the poles (and wires) are used for – making a “doorway” to complete the enclosure. Nothing more, and nothing less. Very often, the poles that form the sides of the frame of the “doorway” are attached to an already existing pole, such as a utility pole, in order to minimize the obtrusiveness of the poles. (The reason the utility poles themselves can’t be used is because the top of the doorway is not attached to the sides of the sides of the frame, but is on top of them. Attaching a wire to the sides of the utility poles does not form a “doorway,” while running a wire on top of two vertical poles does.)

By creating a series of “doorways,” as unobtrusively as possible, an area can be enclosed, making it eligible to bypass the rabbinic aspects of the prohibition against carrying on the Sabbath.