Crown Heights Eruv Vandalized in 20 Places

The controversial new Eruv in Crown Heights has been vandalized and broken in over 20 places, an advocate for the Eruv told The Forward.

From The Forward:

A controversial new eruv designed to serve Modern Orthodox Jews in the traditionally Hasidic Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights was allegedly vandalized — days after rabbis from the Chabad-Lubavitcher group said the ritual barrier was not approved by rabbinic authorities.

The wire that is erected around Orthodox areas allowing for otherwise-prohibited activities on the Sabbath was cut and torn down twice in the last week, members of the growing Modern Orthodox community in the neighborhood said.

“It was broken in 20 places,” said Naftali Hanau, a Crown Heights resident who advocated for the new eruv. “This was clearly vandalized.”

The first episode of alleged vandalization took place sometime last week, Hanau said. Hanau and other eruv advocates repaired the ritual wire before the Sabbath, but vandals, he said, tore down the eruv again on July 11. The eruv is only three weeks old.

It is not clear who might have damaged the eruv. Hanau said police were notified but there was no word on any suspects.

Click here to continue reading at The Forward.

39 Comments

  • Yossi

    they are fighting the rebbe..
    the rebbe supported eruvim..
    please look at the rebbes letters concerning this matter..
    ppl were fed lies about the rebbes opinion

    • Chasidic Lives Matter

      We saved Kol Yisroel after all the members deserted the neighborhood.

    • Milhouse

      You did not save anything. The members kept it alive. Some Lubavitchers helped — not you. But even if you had been one of the helpers, that doesn’t give you ownership over it. How many people helped Lubavitch over the years, does that mean they own it and can tell it what to do?! Kol Israel is a fully independent community, and you have no right to tell it how big its eruv should be.

    • Malach Hamaves

      Can you blame anyone for deserting the neighborhood? Between the “natives” on one side and l’havdil (barely) the Chassidic Barbarians on the other I don’t know who is worse or how anyone could live there for an extended period of time….

  • Jhon doe

    Those who built it are doing this to gain publicity and fundraise money for the upkeep

    • Milhouse

      You liar. The CKI eruv committee are all honest decent people. Can you say the same for all of your people, when there has been a long history of violence and vandalism in your community?

  • RABONIM

    where are the voices of our rabbonim in crown height???? please tell these terrorist to stop there acts of terror and hate that you have incited in our community!!

    Moshe..

    • Yesh Li Rav, Achi

      What’s the point? People ONLY listen to the Rabonnim in CH when they say what they want them to say. If they actually come out and say something unpopular, the masses will drop them like yesterday’s trash and all of a sudden they won’t be “real” Rabonnim anymore. Amazing how they can have it both ways. In CH apparently you CAN have your Kugel and eat it too…

    • truth

      that’s very true, as the rabbonim of CH were so strongly apposed to the eiruv, they should just as strongly insist that others not commit these crimes, yelling at people (as the rabbonim originally encouraged in a letter) or vandalizing the eiruv. Bets on that doesn’t happen so fast….

  • viscious propaganda

    Ridiculous that it claims “modern orthodoxy” (an oximoron) allows for an expanded communal role for women. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  • Anonymous

    if a non jew would be caught vandilizing the eiruv he would rightfuly be charged with a hate crime.

  • Yitzchok

    After reading this, anyone with Yiras Shomayin won’t rely on the Eruv, even those who approve of the Eruv. You never know when it’ll be ripped according to this article.

    • Pedant

      No one with yiras shamoim relied on it to begin with (in CH). nobody sat with their mashpia and said hmm, elul is coming I want to increase in kedusha ..oh I know — I’ll use the eruv.

      That’s not how it works.

      These people all prioritize personal comfort to kedusha. At best they fear punishment so once they have a rov to blame they’re all good.

      That’s the meaning of the ‘nusach ari’ chevra, they didn’t go there to be more holy, they went their to find the yiddeshkeit that fits their way of life.

      To us Torah is life, full stop.

      There is a well known issue against being misabed ledaas, and the punishment is unspeakable, now it’s know that when the misabed is an meshugener then he isn’t punished..so some people are content to be the meshugena.

      Wait for it. These people will carry on Shabbos with or without an eruv.

      You can already see comments to that effect, comments saying that once it’s up it’s up and if it goes down then it’s on you…well maybe so, but you aint holy.

    • Milhouse

      It doesn’t matter. Once it’s been inspected and declared kosher for that shabbos, it has a chazokoh and one is allowed to carry. There is no need to inspect it again and again; until it is discovered to be down it’s halachic status is up, just as a sefer torah is kosher right until the moment a psul is found. If it is vandalized, all the people carry beheter, and the aveira for all that carrying belongs to the vandals; they will burn in genehom for it.

    • Malach Hamaves

      On the contrary, one CAN rely on it even more so now because if some hooligan cuts it everyone that is unwittingly mechallel shabbos as a result is on HIS cheshbon. Good way to rake in the “schar” in gehinnom…

    • YS

      Maybe encourage the people who are ripping it to have some yiras shomayim too?

  • Milhouse

    Meanwhile these resho’im vandalized the Park Slope eruv as well. Even if they think they have some kind of right to mess with Kol Israel’s eruv — which they don’t — what quarrel do they have with the Jews of Park Slope? What right did even they imagine they had to damage that eruv?

  • Milhouse

    Vandals who tear down a communal eruv have a din of מיצר את הרבים, and it is permitted to masser them to the police and bring charges against them. Be warned.

  • Pinchos Woolstone

    As Lubavitcher living in Crown Heights I am bound by the unanimous decision of the local Beis Din.
    I nevertheless would not condone the alleged vandalism.
    Such behavior is inconsistent with the approach of the Rebbe of Righteous Memory.

  • Crown Heights Resident

    If anyone does use this Eruv. They should be Boki in all the Halachos of an Eruv. To make sure they use the Eruv according to the Halacha.

    • Milhouse

      There aren’t a lot of halochos to know. Once you have ascertained that the eruv is up for this Shabbos, and where the boundaries are, the rules for carrying within the eruv are exactly the same as they are for yomtov. In other words, what you carry must not be muktzeh, and you must have some use for it that day. Just as on yomtov, you may not carry things that are completely useless to you that day. For instance, you can carry your house key, but not your car key or the key to your office.

    • Milhouse

      The Rebbe said nothing at all about whether to carry if there is a good eruv. And he definitely did not agree that there’s a halachic problem with building an eruv in a large city. All these people who claim that CH is a reshus horabim are going against the Rebbe’s opinion.

      The Rebbe’s only objection was that he thought it was bad policy to make a public eruv, that it would have a negative effect. Well, that’s a matter for the people who built it. Since they’re not Lubavitchers, they are not obligated to accept his opinion. Once it’s up, though, it’s up. Whatever negative effects the Rebbe thought it would cause are going to happen. Your not using it isn’t going to change that. And the Rebbe never said that one should not use it.

      Of course in this case there is another reason not to use it, which is that it was not built according to the Rambam’s opinion, and the Alter Rebbe recommends that one should be machmir like the Rambam, even though the halacha is not like him. Any chossid should be following this recommendation, except in cases of extreme necessity. If they ever upgrade it to a Rambam eruv then there will be no reason not to use it.

  • ?

    crown heights is nothing like it was even 16 years ago.
    when an eruv was frowned upon by the rebbe, the reasons were not to cause some one to accidently to cary on shabbos by accident if visiting out of town.

    but there is a mitzvah ,that one must erect a fence on the roof to protect on who is falling from falling….

    somnthing like that, i remember hearing that from the weekly parsha hotline, i used to call and listen as i prepared for shabbos… back when i thought i was a good boy.

  • What do you expect?

    I’m surprised it wasn’t vandalized on Day 1. You fight the Rebbe – we Chassidim fight back. Good job, guys!

  • No

    The Rebbe was against the eruv and against vandalism. Difference is, the people who built the eruv were not chabad. The vandalizers must be ‘chabad-lite’ since they do what they feel is right in their eyes

    • Milhouse

      Why should there be? It was inspected before Shabbos and found to be up. That is all that’s required. As far as we know the vandalism happened after Shabbos. If it happened before or during Shabbos, all those who carried did so beheter, and the avera is entirely on the vandals who caused it.

    • GET BACK TO YOUR SHIP, CAPTAIN

      it’s not our job to send out notices to subscribers we don’t even know. Rather, it is the direct responsibility of the eruv Rav Hamakacheer to speak truth when HE sends out his weekly confirmation that he is giving his word that he is taking responsobility that his eruv is UP.

      you are saying that we should deflect attention from HIS responsobility – its not HIS Achrayus, but it is his Machgeéaaks Job to Make Sure to go around tell everybody, Reb shockot should go around making statements to cover the Rab Hamak’cheers rear end.

      Why wont the actual Rab Hamakcheer get back to his ship and tell his passengers as it is. And if he doesnt have the gutts, he’s USING you (as he did shukaat) getting you to actually beleive its YOUR Achrayus to go Kratz Zich Oys looking for the list of HIS subscribers to tell them the real reason for his silence.

    • Milhouse

      Rather, it is the direct responsibility of the eruv Rav Hamakacheer to speak truth when HE sends out his weekly confirmation that he is giving his word that he is taking responsobility that his eruv is UP.

      When the eruv was inspected it was up. And so far as anyone knows it was up throughout shabbos. If it wasn’t, that’s not the rov’s problem, or the problem of the people who carried beheter, it’s the problem of the resho’im who vandalized it. Standard procedure for any eruv is that once it’s confirmed to be up one should davka not look again, in case one will find it to be down.

  • shlomo

    as usual chabad it fight , and vandals. didi it really what rebbe want?

  • Milhouse

    Congratulations, vandals. The damage you did to the Crown Heights eruv has been repaired and IT IS UP. Whoever was using it before will use it again this shabbos, BEHETER GOMUR. But the damage you did to the Park Slope eruv, which has nothing to do with you, has not yet been repaired, and that eruv may end up being down for Shabbos.

    Mazel tov, is this what you wanted? You didn’t help yourselves at all, but you managed to disturb the Shabbos of a community you had no quarrel with. Any chilul shabbos that results will of course be your aveira, but so will the loss of oneg shabbos by those who will not carry, and that may be an even bigger aveira. Are you proud of yourselves?