Halakhah in America: by Adam Mintz Doctor of Philosophy Skirball

433 Pages·2011·3.06 MB·English

Halakhah in America:
The History of City Eruvin, 1894-1962

by

Adam Mintz

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies
New York University
September, 2011

__________________________
Prof. Lawrence Schiffman
TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES iii
INTRODUCTION 1
PRE-RABBINIC AND RABBINIC SOURCES 20
POST-TALMUDIC SOURCES 81
ERUVIN IN THE EARLY MODERN AND MODERN PERIODS 132
THE ST. LOUIS ERUV 176
THE EAST SIDE OF MANHATTAN ERUV 229
THE TORONTO ERUV 283
THE MANHATTAN ERUV 341
CONCLUSION 406
EPILOGUE 422
BIBLIOGRAPHY 427

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LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1 Map of St. Louis, 1878 200
Fig. 2 Rabbi Seigel‘s Map of New York City, 1907 254
Fig. 3 Rider's New York City Map, 1916 259
Fig. 4 Plan of the City of Toronto, July 19, 1923 285
Fig. 5 Map of Toronto, Google Maps 323
Fig. 6 Map of the New York City Subway System, 1954 368
Fig. 7 Rabbi Moskowitz‘s Map of New York City, 1959 371

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Introduction

The Gemara describes an encounter in Pumbedita between the Rabbah bar Rav
Hanan and Abaye. Rabbah bar Rav Hanan asks Abaye why there was no eruv in the
alleyway of two great rabbis [Abaye and Abaye‘s uncle, Rabbah]. In an attempt to
vindicate himself and Rabbah, Abaye answers that it was not befitting Rabbah‘s
dignity to go from door to door collecting the requisite matzahs, and that he, Abaye,
was so preoccupied with his learning that he had no time to supervise the eruv.1
Mordekhai ben Hillel, the renowned thirteenth century German rabbinic authority,
infers from this Gemara that under normal circumstances when the rabbi of an area is
not similarly preoccupied, he has an obligation to erect an eruv for his community.2
Eruv, a word that signifies ‗mixture‘, ‗combination‘ or ‗fusion‘ will be used in
this dissertation to refer to an eruv hatzerot, the joining of the residents of a limited
area or space for the sake of establishing a localized neighborhood in which carrying
objects is allowed on the Sabbath.3 The eruv has been a focus of concern for rabbis
from the Mishnaic period to the modern age. The ability to transform an area in which
carrying on the Sabbath had been prohibited into an area in which carrying on the
Sabbath is permitted created both challenges and opportunities for the rabbis in each

1 Eruvin 68a
2 Mordekhai, Eruvin no. 515.
3 Erubin. Translated by Dr. Israel W. Slotki (London, 1938), xi.
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generation. The concept of an eruv was introduced in the Mishnaic period in Roman
Palestine in order to allow Jews to carry their possessions into the hazer, the semi-
private courtyards around which several Jewish families lived, on the Sabbath. Since
the courtyard was utilized as a shared space for many activities including eating and
sleeping, there was a need to create a procedure to allow the residents of the hazer to
carry their articles in and out of the hazer on the Sabbath. As the Jewish community
expanded to include multiple adjacent courtyards, the rules of the creation of an eruv
were adjusted to reflect the changing reality of these new Jewish ―neighborhoods.‖
Over time, as the Jews moved to Babylonia and subsequently expanded their
communities in European and other Eastern countries to include larger neighborhoods
throughout numerous cities, the rabbinic definition of an eruv was adapted to these
changing realities.
The creation of the rabbinic eruv requires the physical enclosing of the desired
area as well as a symbolic collection of a food item from every resident of this area.
Each of these aspects of the eruv created certain challenges for the rabbis as the Jewish
communities expanded beyond the traditional courtyards of Roman Palestine.
Although the Mishnah describes the symbolic enclosing of the courtyard through the
utilization of crossbeams and endposts at the entranceway to the courtyard, these
structures no longer sufficed as the Jews moved outside of self-enclosed areas and into
larger neighborhoods that were not enclosed as were the earlier courtyards. This
change of circumstance required the rabbis to utilize natural or existing enclosures
2
such as city walls and bodies of water to create enclosures around these neighborhoods
and later around the cities in which the Jews resided.
In addition, the Talmud explains that the sharing of food in the courtyard
serves to unify the residents of the courtyard allowing them to establish an eruv
community. However, as the Jewish community outgrew the courtyards, they often
shared living areas with non-Jews or Jews who did not accept the principle of the eruv.
Furthermore, once the Jews began to reside in neighborhoods throughout larger cites,
the Jews became a minority within the area which was to be enclosed by the eruv. The
rabbis addressed the creation of an eruv community in these new situations and
adapted the original process of food sharing to meet the changing realia. Finally, the
rabbis were required to confront the problems raised by the fact that this Jewish
minority was attempting to create a ―halakhic neighborhood‖ within a larger urban
area controlled by a local governmental authority that might not be sympathetic to the
concept of the eruv.
Yet, in spite of these challenges, eruvin were created by Jewish communities
throughout the world. In Europe and the Middle East, rabbis met the challenges and
the difficulties and spearheaded the creation of these eruvin in small Jewish
neighborhoods and larger urban settings. As the medieval walls of many European
cities were taken down in the nineteenth century, rabbis replaced these eruv
boundaries with other natural or man-made boundaries. The invention of the telegraph
in the mid-nineteenth century with its poles and wires that closely resembled the
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original crossbeams and endposts of the courtyards of Roman Palestine presented
potential new eruv boundaries in the modern city. However, this new option also
raised many new halakhic issues that were a matter of heated dispute among the
leading rabbis of the time.
As the Jews immigrated in increasing numbers to North America at the end of
the nineteenth century, the rabbis were faced with the question of how to transplant the
European tradition of community eruvin to their new cities. Interestingly, prior to
1970, only four city eruvin were created in North America; in St. Louis, The East Side
of Manhattan, Toronto and Manhattan. These eruvin were established by Eastern
European rabbis who based their arguments for the validity of these eruvin on the
precedents that had been set by the rabbis of earlier generations and the actual eruvin
that these rabbis had created.
This dissertation will address the evolution of the community eruv from the
days of the courtyards of Roman Palestine to the modern period. It will explore and
analyze the halakhic arguments that enabled the rabbis to adapt a rabbinic concept that
originally had limited application into a broad practice that allowed tens of thousands
of Jews throughout the centuries to carry on the Sabbath. How did these rabbis,
through their adaptation of the original rabbinic sources and their creative ingenuity,
apply the traditional sources to the new geographic realia that they found in each?
4
Although this work will evaluate the evolution of the halakhic history of
communal eruvin, it will primarily focus on the community eruvin that were created in
North America prior to 1970. On one hand, these eruvin were built based on the
precedent of the earlier eruvin. Yet, at the same time, there were certain aspects of
these eruvin that reflected the unique situation of American Orthodox Jewry during its
developmental stages in North America. Studying the challenges of adapting the
model of the earlier eruvin to American realities will enhance the understanding of the
American Orthodox rabbinate of this period and its relationship both to the Orthodox
laity and the broader Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Since 1970, there has been
a proliferation of communal eruvin built in American cities and towns. These eruvin
reflect the further development of Orthodoxy in America and deserve a separate study
the parameters of which will be discussed in greater detail in the conclusion of this
work.
The relationship of the American eruvin to the earlier eruvin raises several
considerations. First, the American Orthodox rabbis utilized halakhic precedents that
were established by the rabbis of earlier generations as they built eruvin throughout
the world. How did these halakhic precedents apply to the American urban situation?
Were there aspects unique to American cities that had not been addressed by earlier
rabbinic authorities? How would the American Orthodox rabbis address these new
issues? Would they seek counsel from the rabbis of Eastern Europe or would they
attempt to resolve these issues on their own? Finally, as eruvin began to be created in
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America, did rabbis who established the later American eruvin rely on the precedent
of the earlier American eruvin or did they too base their work solely on the model of
the earlier European eruvin? These questions reflect the place of the American
Orthodox rabbinate in its early stages. Did these rabbis feel that they were merely a
continuation of an earlier tradition or did they believe that it was their role to forge
new halakhic ground in North America?
Furthermore, the interplay of halakhah and social factors as the underlying
reason for the creation of these eruvin. The fact that otherwise observant Jews were
carrying on the Sabbath even though there was no eruv was a concern expressed by
the rabbis since the beginning of the Early Modern Period. There is no question that
this issue was the impetus for the efforts of these European rabbis to create eruvin in
their cities and towns. Yet, this concern played a special role in the consideration of
the American rabbis. As the American Orthodox rabbis confronted an immigrant
Jewish community that was often lax in their observance, the rabbis decided how to
deal with this group whose ambitions and religious struggles they did not necessarily
share. Although it is impossible to know why only four American eruvin were built
during the decades in which Orthodox began to grow and expand in America, these
four examples of eruvin offer important insights into this question. The rabbis who
created these eruvin in St. Louis, Manhattan and Toronto were deeply concerned with
the religious observance of the members of their communities. How did the social
considerations impact on their decisions regarding the eruv? Did it merely lead them
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to examine the practical possibilities of creating eruvin in their cities or did their
interest in minimizing Sabbath desecration lead any one of these rabbis to offer more
lenient halakhic positions in order to legitimize the eruv?
The question of the interplay of halakhic decision-making and social realities
has been studied regarding many different aspects of Jewish communal activity
throughout the centuries. As with previous studies, it is important to evaluate the
manner in which the social realia helped to shape the halakhic decision without
minimizing the value of the halakhic argumentation on its own terms. Therefore, in
this dissertation, the halakhic material will be presented in its original form and the
possible social ramifications will be evaluated separately. In this way, the study of the
halakhic history will retain its independent validity. Yet, the social realia will not be
downplayed or ignored.
Both of these considerations focus on the self-perception of the American
Orthodox rabbis in terms of their roles as halakhic decisors and religious leaders in
America; this rabbinic self-perception is an issue that is far broader than the topic of
eruvin. It has ramifications for the general approach of these rabbis to a myriad of
issues and underlies the discussion as to whether they chose a more restrictive
approach to questions of Jewish practice in America or a more permissive one.4 It

4 For several treatments of this topic, see Jeffrey S. Gurock, Orthodox Jews in America
(Bloomington, IN, 2009), Adam Mintz, ―Is Coca-Cola Kosher? Rabbi Tobias Geffen
and the History of American Orthodoxy,‖ Rav Chesed: Essays in Honor of Rabbi Dr.
Haskel Lookstein, edited by Rafael Medoff (Jersey City, NJ, 2009), II: 75-90. Marc
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