Testing the boundaries of faith

Zoning to permit tasks otherwise forbidden on the sabbath is being fought all the way

Steven Morris
Saturday August 10, 2002
The Guardian

The plans have been finalised and the contractors briefed. Splashes of yellow paint have begun to appear on pavements in north-west London where the boundary posts will soon be erected. After a bitter battle a proposal to set up an eruv - an area within which Orthodox Jews can carry out tasks otherwise forbidden on the sabbath - is to be realised. Over the next few weeks workers should begin to erect dozens of 30ft high poles connected by fishing line to enclose the six-and-a-half square mile area.
The United Synagogue, the leading Orthodox wing of British Judaism, claims the scheme will benefit thousands of observant Jews who are not allowed to carry out tasks, including pushing prams or wheelchairs or carrying keys and prayer-books, on the sabbath if they are not within an eruv. But opponents fear the eruv could be divisive and make the area, which includes Golders Green, Hampstead Garden Suburb, Hendon and Finchley, a target for racist violence.

Others believe the scheme is a claim for territory which will lead to the area being "invaded" by Jewish people. They are angry that the poles and wire will form "gateways" into their neighbourhoods. Some are puzzled as to why the followers of a faith which imposes such restrictions go to such lengths to find loopholes. Many Jewish people believe the eruv makes them seem ridiculous.

The controversy is stoked by three motivated groups. Elizabeth Lawrence, of the Barnet eruv objectors' group, said: "It is a physical claim of territory which the majority of people find inappropriate. We should try to live together, not split the community. This has been a harmonious area but the eruv will cause trouble."

Elizabeth Segall, convenor of the forum against intrusive eruvs and a committee member of the eruv boundary opponents group, said: "We feel that our human rights will be affected. It's a monstrous thing, an affront to civil rights." Mrs Segall and husband Jeffrey are incensed that the frontage of their house is part of the boundary. When they objected to the chief rabbi, they were outraged to receive a reply saying they were at liberty not to use the eruv and indeed to demolish their house if they wished, "thus causing the frontage to cease to exist".

The United Synagogue eruv committee claims it will benefit 10,000 people who observe the sabbath but campaigners claim only 600 observe the restrictions. The committee points out that major cities around the world, including Sydney, Washington and Venice, have successful eruvs but the protesters reply that they do not use purpose-built poles and wire.

The committee sought permission for the eruv in 1992 but was turned down by Barnet council on planning grounds. During a public inquiry the following year residents including Lord McGregor, the first chairman of the press complaints commission, and the late Lord Soper, a president of the Methodist conference, expressed reservations but in 1994 the scheme was approved by the government.

Under plans finally approved by Barnet council in 1998 most of the 11-mile perimeter is to be made up of boundaries such as the M1, the A1 and the Northern line of the underground. But to maintain a continuous boundary - so the eruv can be considered a "private domain" posts connected with 1,000 metres of fishing line will be erected. Since then campaigners have expressed concern that damage could be caused to trees on Hampstead heath by the poles. They worry that birds could be caught in the wires. They suggest that safety could be compromised where the wires cross busy roads.

The present hurdle - the colour of the poles - is typical. The eruv committee has suggested painting them sage green. But though in truth the campaigners do not care about the colour they have discovered that the council's public works committee decided that the colour ought to go out to consultation and have used this to try to delay the scheme again.

When this hurdle is surmounted by the eruv committee, the campaigners will try a new tack, perhaps trying to get the proposals referred to the court of human rights in Strasbourg - where incidentally there is an eruv - arguing that it could impinge on their right under article nine of the human rights act to "freedom of thought, conscience and religion".

Against
The neat house which is Lorna Noble's home and the base for her successful advertising business is part of the southern boundary of the eruv in Child's Hill.

Two streets on either side of the terrace where Ms Noble lives will be framed by poles and wire. On one side the street which will be bridged leads directly into an estate, which Ms Noble says will make the structure look like a gateway. On the other side it appears the pole could obstruct the window of a private, two-bedroom flat.

Ms Noble said: "I don't think we ought to be made to live for seven days a week with this boundary so that a minority can push a pram." She is angry that she has no choice that her property is being used to mark the line."Nobody has asked us if we mind. I don't see why I should put up with this."

Ms Noble says that most people in the area have no idea what the yellow marks on the pavements near her home signify. "But when they realise that poles with wire strung across them are going to be put up beside their front doors and in front of their houses they will be angry."

For
Because Millie Sampson's chronic asthma makes it difficult for her to go more than short distances without her wheelchair, it is forbidden for her to go to the synagogue on the sabbath with her eight children.

The eruv, she says, would improve her life. She said: "For more than 10 years I haven't been to synagogue with my children on the sabbath. They go off in the morning and come back at lunch but we can't go out as a family together."

This week Mrs Sampson has been preparing for her son's bar mitzvah. Because of the restrictions it must be held at their home in Hendon.

"The eruv would definitely improve the quality of my life dramatically. I don't see why it can't happen. It's a technical boundary which doesn't impinge on anybody.

"What's the difference between it and a parish boundary? There are parish boundaries all over the place and nobody thinks they affect anybody. I'm not sure why the opponents of the eruv are frightened. I think it's because people don't like change.

"I don't think anybody should be afraid that suddenly a whole load of religious people are going to move into the area. That won't happen."

Facts and figures
· There are more than 200 eruvs in cities around the world. There is one in every town in Israel and most major cities in the US.

· The eruv in Sydney, set up in June, has been created from cliff faces, a golf course and fences along Bondi beach. The Washington DC eruv includes the White House and supreme court. The Toronto eruv worked with the railroad company to use its fences as a boundary.

· Eruvs date from biblical times. Under religious law, Jews are not allowed to carry any item in a (public domain) on the sabbath.

· The north-west London eruv will not be the first in the UK. The residents of a street in Temple Fortune, north London, made one in the 1990s.

· Many Jewish homes are set up as eruvs to allow families to perform tasks which would otherwise be forbidden on the Sabbath.

· The eruv committee says the cost of construction and maintenance will be met by voluntary contributions and sponsorship.