The Eruv Revolution

How technology and professionalization are reshaping the eruv industry

Rabbi Mordechai Paretzky, an eruv builder from Chicago, once got his truck so deeply stuck in the mud while repairing an eruv that Chaveirim—a volunteer organization that provides emergency roadside assistance—had to pull his bucket truck out with an excavator, a utility vehicle usually reserved for heavy lifting on a construction site. On another occasion, he was out on a boat checking an eruv when he happened upon a dead body in the water.

All in a day’s work for him and the new cadre of professional eruv builders who have helped revolutionize how eruvin are designed, built and maintained. Indeed, a number of factors, including technology and professionalization, have entirely transformed the eruv industry over the past decade.

It’s really remarkable. I can design almost an entire eruv from my home office.

In the past, eruv construction relied on handy local Jewish volunteers or non-Jewish builders, working with rabbinic oversight. Baltimore resident Randi Shuster proudly remembers watching her father drive a bucket truck when the local eruv was completed in 1980 “because he was one of the only community members who knew how to operate it.” Today’s eruv builders, however, work full time designing, constructing, inspecting and maintaining eruvin while keeping costs low to help communities stick to tight budgets. (It’s way more costly to call an electrician with a bucket truck.) Currently, there are about twelve full-time professional eruv builders and another thirty involved on a part-time basis throughout the country. (This does not include the hundreds of “eruv checkers” who volunteer to inspect their local eruv every week.) Professional eruv builders bring experience and a specially trained eye to the process, and they have posekim to consult with as needed,” explains Rabbi Baruch Gore, an eruv builder, supervisor and educator from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. In fact, their construction background, proficiency in hilchot eruvin and innovative approach to this age-old mitzvah have made them an indispensable resource to hundreds of communities throughout North America.

A Game Changer for the Industry

While smartphone technology is not new, it has only recently proven to be a game changer for the eruv industry. For example, an eruv professional can now determine whether an eruv is kosher or pasul (invalid) by examining an image of it on his phone. Likewise, he can virtually tour an existing or potential eruv border on Google Street View and use FaceTime to walk a local eruv checker through an easy fix.

But technology in general is responsible for dramatically changing the eruv industry. “It’s really remarkable. I can design almost an entire eruv from my home office,” notes Rabbi Paretzky, who has upgraded more than thirty community eruvin across the United States.

The hands-on work for an eruv builder, however, can be rough and challenging—even risky. Eruv builders might spend Friday afternoon adjusting a wire on a telephone pole at the last minute. They contend with everything from wild animals to blizzards to oncoming traffic. The old saying about postal workers applies: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night holds them back from completing their rounds. All so we can carry on Shabbos within the bounds of halachah.

The Need to Network

Rabbi Gore recalls the days when he had to print out photos and mail them to a posek. “The immediacy of communication made possible by technology has vastly improved what we [professional eruv builders] are doing as an industry, increasing our confidence in the halachic standards of what we are building together,” he says.

In a major step toward streamlining the eruv industry, the OU developed free user-friendly software designed exclusively for eruv professionals. The app gathers the details of an eruv’s particulars in one place, including a full point-by-point mapping of the eruv boundaries.

Interestingly, technology has also addressed the significant loneliness eruv builders face while engaged in this work. In general, they operate more or less independently, with little community recognition or opportunity to interact with one another.

Premier eruv builder Rabbi Micah Shotkin of Passaic, New Jersey, describes how isolating it can be “in our silos, fixing an eruv just before sunset on an erev Shabbos.” Three years ago, he helped launch a WhatsApp chat as a forum for nurturing camaraderie among eruv architects and builders so they’d feel less alone. They suddenly had a place to compare best practices and to ask and answer questions like, Which method of attaching cement is best for this scenario? They share successes and mishaps, like the time Rabbi Shotkin spent an afternoon working on a complicated lechi (a pole used to demarcate a doorpost) installation only to realize he’d put it on the wrong telephone pole. When one member got an electric shock while installing a lechi, the chat participants realized it was time to organize safety training.

Rabbi Shotkin also saw the space as a platform for transmitting knowledge he’d learned the hard way, hoping to spare other eruv professionals some of his frustration. “There’s no eruv school. More than once, I’ve bought four tools to do a job before I figured out which was the one I needed.”

“I saw how multi-layered the issues around this mitzvah are, and experienced how solitary this work can be,” says Rabbi Gore, who first got involved as a volunteer eruv checker when California’s Valley Village eruv was restructuring. He subsequently trained new eruv checkers, which is when he began incubating the idea of a national network to support communities and eruv personnel. About ten years ago, he and Rabbi Paretzky launched the National Eruv Initiative (NEI).

Rabbi Gore says the initiative creates opportunities for eruv personnel to connect, share stories and learn from one another. “We’ve seen other results too, like heightened awareness in the frum community about what really goes into building and maintaining an eruv.” NEI provides guidance, individualized support, education and user-friendly resources. Ultimately, the mission of the NEI is to help communities have the best eruvin possible.

To bring networking within the industry to a whole new level, Rabbi Ezra Sarna, OU Director of Halacha Initiatives, joined forces with Rabbi Gore to organize a conference for eruv builders and supervisors. (Supervisors are mostly volunteers who oversee their local community eruvin.) Held at OU Manhattan headquarters in the fall of 2023, the conference offered a full schedule of repair demos as well as presentations on halachic, legal and safety issues. It drew over seventy eruv personnel, representing the spectrum of Orthodoxy, from forty cities across the US and Canada.

“This was the first opportunity of its kind to create a sense of community among eruv professionals,” says Rabbi Sarna, who hopes to make it an annual event.

QuickBooks for Eruv

About two years ago, a large Jewish community approached the OU with a major concern. It seemed that all the information about its eruv was stored in the head of just one individual.

“It’s a scary reality,” recalls Rabbi Sarna. “If chas v’shalom something happens to him, or he moves away or simply forgets, the entire eruv is ostensibly lost, leaving the community with no backup or support to figure it out.”

Rabbi Sarna soon discovered that such a scenario is common in many cities. There might be an eruv map—somewhere. Contracts with homeowners and agreements with utility companies are assumed to be in the rabbi’s desk. But that’s not always the case. From the perspective of shemirat Shabbat, this leaves communities vulnerable.

In a major step toward streamlining the eruv industry, the OU developed free user-friendly software designed exclusively for eruv professionals, which was unveiled during the eruv conference. “We want to standardize how communities document their eruvin,” explains Rabbi Sarna.

Available via the website or as an app, the software gathers the details of an eruv’s particulars in one place, including a full point-by-point mapping of an eruv’s boundaries. It may not appeal to everyone in the industry; in fact, not all eruv personnel have smartphones. But Rabbi Sarna calls the new software “QuickBooks for Eruv” because it allows for secure data storage, customization and collaboration.

“It will play a critical role in institutional continuity,” Rabbi Gore stresses. A new rav or a substitute checker can step in seamlessly by accessing the information in the app.

Likewise, an eruv team can communicate through the app while in the process of making repairs. “When we perform a top-to-bottom check of an eruv, I often have to guess: Did they use the slope or the fence? The first utility pole or the second? The software’s specificity will help us sidestep these kinds of challenges,” notes Rabbi Chaim Yadlovker, an eruv builder from Edison, New Jersey.

To date, twenty cities have signed on to use the software. Creating such an app “has been on my to-do list for ages,” says Moshe Katz, a software developer and eruv supervisor in Olney, Maryland. “I’m grateful the OU beat me to it.”

The Eruv Experts

Currently, some 350 eruvin exist in the US and Canada, a number that continues to grow as new Jewish communities emerge and existing ones expand. Yet there is a misconception, says Rabbi Sarna, that “you build an eruv once and that’s it, when in fact ongoing investment is required, especially as the components age.” Rabbi Sarna adds that many older eruvin may also be due for an update.

Rabbi Shlomo Katz, a lawyer who serves as president of the Silver Spring Eruv Association in Maryland, says that in his community a handful of the original poles—from when the eruv first went up forty-five years ago—are still in use. “We upgrade as opportunities arise,” he says. Nowadays, eruv builders are opting to use stronger materials that are easier to check and less likely to need repairs over the long term.

Between new construction and upgrading and servicing existing eruvin, professional eruv builders are kept busy. They often have waiting times of up to a year, sometimes even longer. “It’s a positive sign [that there is so much demand],” Rabbi Sarna asserts. “We’re beginning to bring eruv to the fore, to give it the same attention as we do kashrus.”

A Labor of Love

Many of today’s professional eruv builders began their careers as volunteers. Rabbi Shotkin operated out of the back of his van until he bought a bucket truck. “When I found one on eBay, I put a bid of $40,000 on it, knowing I’d lose. They are the most essential tool for eruv building, but usually go for $100,000. I was shocked when I got it. Calls flooded in as soon as I opened for business.”

Rabbi Paretzky also began as a volunteer. He used to daven early before setting out on Sundays to build and repair eruvin in the Chicago area. He’d bring photos to Rabbi Shlomo Francis at the Chicago Community Kollel when he had a she’eilah. Rabbi Francis also sent him to fix eruv issues he himself had identified. Eventually, Rabbi Paretzky made eruv his career.

Conceptually, an eruv is a barrier that consists of walls and doorways, giving the enclosed area the status of a “private domain.” Halachically, a doorway consists of two doorposts (“lechayayim,” the plural of “lechi”) , and a lintel that must be laid horizontally above both doorposts. Most modern-day North American eruvin use thin pipes affixed to telephone poles as the lechayayim and the telephone wires above them as the lintel. The day-to-day work of eruv building is mostly installing new lechayayim and lintels when the need arises. In this picture, the metal pole serves as a lechi and the wire on top serves as the lintel.

Ultimately, the story of the eruv professional is one of mesirut nefesh. Eruv builders are on the road often, and they tend to be busy with repairs on Friday until close to candle lighting time. Each week, Rabbi Paretzky leaves first thing Monday morning and returns on Thursday night, sweeping across the country in between. He spends the next day fixing eruvin closer to home. At 2 pm on the summer Friday he was interviewed for this story, he still had five more eruvin to attend to before sundown. “Unfortunately, I’ve missed Minchah on erev Shabbos more than once,” he shares.

There are plenty of other challenges, too.

Local authorities, corporations and homeowners can reject plans after a long period of negotiation. Lawyers step in, the eruv builder reworks the plans, and the all-consuming process begins again. A builder might arrive to break ground on a new eruv only to discover a fence has gone up where there had been none, or a pole has been downed, both requiring him to switch gears.

There is a misconception that “you build an eruv once and that’s it, when in fact ongoing investment is required, especially as the components age.”

Despite these hurdles, eruv work is a labor of love, a meaningful investment of time and energy for Am Yisrael, and an opportunity to express ahavat Yisrael.

Rabbi Chaim Jachter, rav of Congregation Shaarei Orah in Teaneck, New Jersey, is also the eruv posek for seventy North American communities, from British Columbia to Kansas to his home state. Once a year since 1989 (and twice annually in Teaneck), he travels to inspect each eruv with a fine-tooth comb. Over time, he has established relationships with the local leadership and rabbanim. “We are partners in a process that requires ongoing dedication, because left uncared for, an eruv can become a halachic disaster.”

Rabbi Jachter notes that posekim try to limit the footprint of required changes and repairs while ensuring halachic standards are adhered to. “An eruv isn’t cheap, but it’s still at the expense of holy communal money.”

Eruv Then and Now

Nowadays, an eruv is a prerequisite for attracting young families to a community; it’s a convenience we all take for granted, hardly thinking about it unless it’s down. So it’s hard to imagine that there was a time when few North American Jewish communities had one. As Miryam Block recalls of her eruv-less childhood in the Bronx and Rockaway during the 1950s and 60s, “I don’t know how we managed before my family moved, in 1968, to Far Rockaway, where the eruv was a mechayeh.”

Gradually, eruvin went up across the country.

Rabbi Shotkin stresses that “the socialization the eruv has since made possible is critical to our communal well-being. Families with small children, as well as anyone who uses a wheelchair, would be stuck at home without it. It’s both a shalom bayis issue and a mental health issue.”

In the 1960s, when Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, sanctioned the building of the Kew Gardens Hills eruv in Queens, New York, one of the first modern eruvin in the US, he stipulated that it be designed in a way that would limit the need for ongoing repairs. As such, telephone poles maintained by AT&T were integrated into the eruv “wall” as vertical “door” posts.

While eruvin also use other preexisting infrastructures, such as a riverfront or the side of a building, utility poles remain the go-to element in North American eruv design. Except when there are none. Like in Las Vegas’s Henderson suburb, where the wires are buried underground, an aesthetic trend in new housing developments. Because it is harder to design an eruv without utility poles, such eruvin may end up both larger and more costly compared to those in a city with utility poles.

Meanwhile, the technology boom has transformed the bare utility poles of the 1960s into a chaotic blend of phone, cable, internet and fiber-optic wires, rendering the eruv more vulnerable. Even a minor repair by any one of the respective companies can inadvertently compromise an eruv. Rabbi Paretzky recalls an incident when phone company linemen cut down fifty of the lechis he had just installed on a new eruv. They likely had no idea why they were there.

In other countries, where the wires are often buried, communities tend to use their own poles and wires instead, with bureaucratic hurdles often making for a lengthier construction process. As an example, the Zurich community in Switzerland has been trying to put up an eruv for over a decade.

Yet, once established, notes Rabbi Sarna, “they are easier to maintain because the eruv doesn’t share materials with anyone who might destroy them, unaware of their significance.”

OU Supports Eruv Professionals

This past October, the OU, along with the National Eruv Initiative, hosted an eruv conference that drew some seventy eruv professionals from thirty-five cities in ten states from the East Coast and beyond, including California, Oregon, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan as well as Canada.

Aiming to support eruv professionals throughout North America, Rabbi Ezra Sarna, OU Director of Halacha Initiatives, and Rabbi Baruch Gore of the National Eruv Initiative organized the event along with a committee that included the Who’s Who? of the eruv world, including premier eruv builder Rabbi Micah Shotkin and Rabbi Chaim Meir Steinmetz, a supervisor of numerous eruvin in the tri-state area.

“The achdus of the diverse group of eruv professionals infused every minute with a unique and powerful energy,” says Rabbi Gore. “It was inspiring to see everyone’s shared focus on enhancing shemiras Shabbos both in their hometowns and in other communities.”

The two-day conference aimed to create a sense of community among eruv professionals while they explored various eruv-related topics, including how to launch a national conversation about raising the standard of eruv to a level compared with that of other mitzvot like kashrut.

Presenters included OU Kosher COO Rabbi Moshe Elefant; Yeshiva University rosh yeshivah and OU Kosher posek Rabbi Hershel Schachter; posek Rabbi Shlomo Francis, founder of the Eruv Network; and attorneys David Yolkut and Yehudah Buchweitz, who have represented Jewish communities in high-profile eruv court cases. Presentations included “Setting city eruvin up for success” and “Creating a positive eruv culture.” Additionally, there were sessions on eruv materials and tools and electrical wire safety.

“One of the most valuable takeaways from the conference was the chance to discover how other builders resolved various scenarios in ways I might never have thought of, and to speak with posekim I might never have had contact with,” says eruv builder and supervisor Rabbi Chaim Yadlovker.

Seventy eruv professionals from across North America gathered at the OU this past October for an eruv conference. The event, aimed at supporting eruv professionals, was attended by eruv builders and supervisors from thirty-five cities in ten states. The next eruv conference is scheduled for November 2024. For more information, email sarnae@ou.org.

Keeping an Eruv Up and Running

When the rabbis in the Gemara instituted the eruv, they recognized that being able to carry things outside our homes contributed significantly to oneg Shabbat (our enjoyment of Shabbos), which is an essential part of the day. This still holds true.

But building an eruv now is an entirely different undertaking than it was then. “In those days, an eruv encircled a courtyard, not a city,” explains Rabbi Paretzky. “No one had to negotiate with power companies or deal with heavy traffic. Our process is far more complicated.”

“But it still comes down to ensuring that we keep Shabbos k’halachah,” he adds. “An eruv that is 99 percent kosher is 100 percent pasul.” The good news is that both technology and the professionalization of the eruv industry are making it easier to close the 1 percent gap.

Rabbi Yadlovker, who oversees the eruv in Great Neck, New York, as well as eruvin in the rapidly expanding Chassidic communities in Union County, New Jersey, calls his team of eruv checkers “the first line of defense” in ensuring that no one relies on a non-kosher eruv on any given Shabbat.

Generally, a checker will report any issues to the eruv supervisor, who brings it to the attention of the overseeing rav. As needed, a posek might be consulted or a builder brought in to make any repairs.

Like eruv builders, checkers contend with plenty of challenges and risks, from the elements to angry dogs, from poison ivy to the occasional curmudgeonly apartment dweller who comes out of the building to shout, “What are you doing outside my window every Thursday night?” And more.

David Weintraub recently fell off his scooter, breaking eight ribs while inspecting the eruv in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Years ago, Rabbi Ronald Schwartzberg was arrested for trespassing after checking the eruv in Highland Park, New Jersey, unaware that he was on private property. (After he sent a fruit-and-wine basket to the owner, the charges were dropped.)

Aiming to streamline the weekly checking process, several eruv builders have toyed with using drones to inspect eruvin in obscured areas. In Israel, tension sensors are being developed that can notify the eruv manager immediately if there is an issue with a wire.

But eruv personnel agree that for the most part, nothing can replace the human touch. Therein lies the problem. “We just need to do more checking. A well-trained pair of eyes is going to be the most effective antidote to problems with these complex structures,” says Rabbi Paretzky. He believes a major educational initiative that shines light on what goes into keeping an eruv kosher—from the cost to the kedushah to the physical labor—will inspire others to get involved.

“Due to increased technology upgrades and other factors, there’s much more activity now on telephone poles than there were twenty years ago,” says Rabbi Gore. “As a result, the need for more attentive checking is vital. Communities should have checkers who are not only knowledgeable but also capable of checking hard-to-reach spots, such as near bridges or rivers.”

As a rebbi at Torah Academy of Bergen County, Rabbi Jachter regularly brings his students with him when he checks the local eruv. “It’s tedious work, but I make it fun. It’s also my job to help other rabbanim become excited about it.”

By design, eruvin are naturally camouflaged within their environment, making their components hard to notice unless someone knows where to look. Their “walls” transform space to allow for communal inclusion and Shabbat enjoyment in ways that have made them a necessity of Orthodox Jewish life. And yet, so few of us give them much thought.

Those involved in the eruv industry are hoping that will change soon. Several communities already host an annual “Shabbat Eruv” to focus on the mitzvah and to recognize the efforts of local eruv personnel. Rabbi Katz says the Silver Spring Eruv Association hosts an annual campaign, which helps to raise both funds and awareness of what goes into maintaining a community eruv.

In truth, our eruvin function only because there is a team of devoted professionals and volunteers who, with enormous mesirut nefesh and love for Klal Yisrael, keep them running week after week.

Something to consider when we next get that text: Gut Shabbos! The eruv is up.

Merri Ukraincik has written for Tablet, the Lehrhaus, the Forward and other publications, including Jewish Action. She is the author of a history of the Joint Distribution Committee.