No Eruv in Crown Heights

Crown Heights has no eruv on which one may carry. The Rabbonim of the neighborhood have repeatedly ruled that carrying in the streets on Shabbos and Yom Kippur is prohibited. The structure publicized as a Crown Heights eruv is treated in their psak as though it does not exist.

The instruction was already printed in the Badatz Tishrei guide of 5776: “Here in the neighborhood there is no eruv, and it is forbidden to carry on Shabbos and Yom Kippur.” Signed rulings issued when a new eruv was publicized in 2016, and again in later years, repeated the same halacha.

This site presents the rulings themselves, the practical halachos of carrying, the requirements of a valid city eruv, and the relevant letters, recordings, and statements of the Rebbe and leading Rabbonim.

The psak in Crown Heights

When the proposed eruv became public in Iyar 5776, Rabbi Aharon Yaakov Schwei and Rabbi Yosef Yeshaya Braun wrote that it was absolutely forbidden to carry in the streets of the neighborhood and that the advertised eruv was כמאן דליתא—treated as nonexistent.

Rabbi Avrohom Osdoba issued his own signed clarification a few days later. Addressing the use that had been made of an earlier letter, he wrote:

לא עלה על דעתי להסכים לבנות עירוב בשכונתנו.

It never entered my mind to agree to the construction of an eruv in our neighborhood.

The following month, Rabbi Osdoba and Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda Halevi Segal stated that there was no kosher eruv anywhere within the boundaries of Crown Heights and that carrying was prohibited on both Shabbos and Yom Kippur.

Later rulings of Rabbi Osdoba and Rabbi Braun again instructed the community not to carry. Their letter concerning claimed exterior walls said that the new argument made “no change whatsoever” to the existing psak. The latest signed ruling in the present collection, issued before Yom Kippur 5786, states:

Within the Crown Heights neighborhood and its vicinity, it is forbidden to carry in a public domain and to transfer from one domain to another in any manner on Shabbos Kodesh and Yom Kippur.

Rabbinic Rulings on Carrying in Crown Heights, 2015–2026 brings these rulings together with their full wording and the original documents available on the site.

Carrying on Shabbos and Yom Kippur

The practical result is straightforward. Keys, siddurim, food, coats, bags, strollers, and other objects may not be carried through the neighborhood streets on the assumption that an eruv permits it. The same prohibition applies on Yom Kippur, even when it falls on a weekday.

The melacha involved is hotza’ah: transferring an object from one halachic domain to another, or carrying it through a reshus harabim. It applies to large and small objects alike. An item does not become permitted because it is light, necessary, or being carried only a short distance.

Shabbos arrangements are much easier when made in advance. Keys can be prepared properly, food and seforim brought before Shabbos, and plans made for young children and other recurring needs. Genuine medical, safety, and mobility needs follow the halachos of the actual situation and should be arranged properly; they do not create a general heter to rely on an eruv in Crown Heights.

The practical halachos of carrying in Crown Heights cover the ordinary situations that arise each week.

What makes an eruv valid

A valid city eruv requires several distinct parts to work together:

• The streets must be classified correctly under the halachos of reshus harabim and karmelis.
• Every part of the physical enclosure must have the required halachic form.
• Walls, fences, riverbanks, embankments, poles, wires, openings, bridges, tunnels, and roadways must meet in one continuous boundary.
• The communal arrangements, including eruv chatzeiros, shitufei mevo’os, and sechiras reshus where required, must be valid.
• Rabbonim with expertise in Hilchos Eruvin and knowledge of the local conditions must accept responsibility for the complete arrangement.
• Inspection and repair must preserve the boundary that was originally approved.

A weekly inspection can confirm that a route remains physically as it was. It cannot decide whether the streets were classified correctly, whether the original boundary was sufficient, or whether the proper rabbinic authority approved it for public reliance.

What Makes an Eruv Valid Under Halacha explains each of these parts in depth, including tzuras hapesach, omed merube, shishim ribo, and the treatment of a reshus harabim in a modern city.

The Rebbe and city eruvin

The Rebbe wrote that where an eruv can be established according to halacha, it should be established. In the same correspondence he made clear that this general principle does not decide whether a particular city qualifies. That decision belongs to Rabbonim who have investigated the local facts thoroughly and are expert in Hilchos Eruvin.

The Rebbe also warned repeatedly about publicizing a city eruv. Once people become accustomed to carrying, an eruv may later become invalid while the warning reaches only part of the community. In his letter to Rabbi Eliyohu Jung concerning Manhattan, he therefore wrote that an eruv, if halachically feasible, should be made “in the utmost secrecy.” The concealed eruv described there was intended to reduce the severity of carrying already being done, not to serve as a public heter around which families would plan their Shabbos.

Crown Heights also has named testimony from people close to the Rebbe. Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner wrote that the Rebbe strongly opposed making an eruv in Crown Heights and said on several occasions that no one had permission to make one there. The Chitrik family preserved a separate account in which Rabbi Hirshel Chitrik was told not to build a Crown Heights eruv unless it would remain hidden.

The Rebbe’s Position on Eruvin and Carrying in Large Cities presents the letters, responses, recordings, and Crown Heights testimony in their proper settings.