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Orthodox Jews Win Right to Maintain Eruv in Tenafly, N.J.
October 25, 2002
From Religion News Service; Oct. 25, 2002

Orthodox Jews Win Right to Maintain Eruv in Tenafly, N.J.

(RNS) In what religious liberty advocates are hailing as a victory for the free exercise of religion, the United States Court of Appeals has ruled that Orthodox Jews may maintain an eruv in the affluent New York suburb of Tenafly, N.J.

An eruv is a specially demarcated area that allows Shabbat-observant Jews to carry, push or otherwise convey items from private areas, such as a home, to public areas, such as the street during the Sabbath. The area is often marked by existing utility poles and telephone wires and made known to the local community by distributing a map or posting the borders on a synagogue Web site.

Without an eruv, Orthodox Jewish parents cannot push baby strollers to synagogue, and the elderly or disabled cannot travel to synagogue with wheelchairs or walkers.

In Tenafly, the eruv was erected by placing black plastic strips, which are routinely used by the local Verizon telephone company, on top of several existing utility poles in the area.

"A non-Jewish person wouldn't even notice it," said Nathan Diament, who is the legal affairs director for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case and hailed the decision as a victory.

The town of Tenafly had ordered that the eruv be taken down, a move that many held was an attempt to discourage more Orthodox families from moving to the town.

A federal trial judge upheld the town's decision. The decision by the appeals court, which was issued Oct. 24, said that the town had selectively applied its ordinances and singled out Orthodox Jews for discriminatory treatment.

"It's a great victory for religious liberty in general, its' a victory for the principle that local authorities should not be able to manipulate various kinds of ordinances to dissuade people from moving into their community," Diament said in an interview.

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