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Jewish law forbids carrying objects between private or public areas on the Sabbath. However, rabbinic authorities deemed carrying permissible within a physical enclosure called an eruv. This book explores the rabbinic debates surrounding the creation of such enclosures in North American cities and examines the evolution of American Orthodox communities from the late-nineteenth century through the 1960s.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. History of the Eruv
2. The St. Louis Eruv
3. The East Side of Manhattan Eruv
4. The Toronto Eruv
5. The Manhattan Eruv, 1949–1962
Conclusion
Bibliography
About the author
Rabbi Adam Mintz is a Jewish communal leader with a passion for Jewish scholarship. Rabbi Mintz has served for 30 years as a community rabbi in Manhattan. He is currently the rabbi of Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim, a Modern Orthodox synagogue he founded on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 2004. He is also the Director of 929 English, an organization that promotes the daily study of Tanakh. In addition, Rabbi Mintz is a member of the Talmud faculty at Yeshivat Maharat and has taught as an Adjunct Professor at City College, New York. Rabbi Mintz received Rabbinical Ordination (Semicha) from Yeshiva University and a PhD in Jewish History from New York University. Rabbi Mintz lives in Manhattan with his wife Sharon. They have three children and two grandchildren.
Summary
Jewish law forbids carrying objects between private or public areas on the Sabbath. However, rabbinic authorities deemed carrying permissible within a physical enclosure called an eruv. This book explores the rabbinic debates surrounding the creation of such enclosures in North American cities and examines the evolution of American Orthodox communities from the late nineteenth century through the 1960s. The earliest debates reflect a community with low religious observance and weak ties to local government that relied on European rabbis for authority. By the mid-twentieth century, these rabbinic disputes reveal an established, religiously observant community forming its own traditions.
