Search results for: ""Eruv""

Eruv: Leniencies
Almost all eruvs in cities use leniencies.
Eruv Chatzeirot When Manager Has Right To Enter Your Apartment
You do not need an eruv chatzeirot if you are in an apartment building even without a central kitchen but where:
  • The building owner has property in each apartment, and
  • The building owner or manager has the ability and the right to enter your apartment and the other apartments.
 
Eruv Chatzeirot: Hotel/Apartment Building with Central Kitchen
If you are in a hotel or apartment building that has a central kitchen from which most of the residents usually eat, you do not need to make an eruv chatzeirot.
Slopes as Eruv Border
A slope of about 25 degrees from vertical that is steeper than 5 inches vertical for 12 inches horizontal (a 5” rise over a 12” run) constitutes an eruv border; it must be at least 40" high.
 
Car as Eruv Border
You may use a car as a part of an eruv, as long as:
  • The bottom of the car is within 10.5 inches of the ground, and
  • One side of the car is in line with other parts of the eruv, such as with an actual wall, lechi + mashkof, or steep slope.
 
Bushes as Eruv Border
Bushes may be a border if they are:
  • So dense that a cat can't walk through them, and
  • More than 40” (10 tefachim) high.
 
Introduction to Eruv Chatzeirot for Buildings
On Shabbat, you may not carry items in a building (such as a condominium) owned by more than one Jew (even if the other owners are not religious), from a condo into the hallway or from the hallway into a condo unless:
  • There is an eruv around the building, or
  • You have made an eruv chatzeirot with all the other owners.
Note If none of the other owners are Jewish, you do not need to make an eruv.
Note If you do not normally rely on municipal eruvs, you should not carry outside your apartment (such as in the building's halls--even if your building is within a municipal eruv), unless the building has an eruv chatzeirot. 
Tree Trunk as Eruv Border
You may use the trunk of a tree as part of an eruv, but consult a rabbi about the spacing and curvature of the roots.
 
Carrying Ticket within Eruv
If an eruv includes your house and a sports field, you may carry your ticket to a sporting event on Shabbat, but it is best if you leave the ticket at the entrance with a ticket-taker before Shabbat starts. Such activity is not in the spirit of Shabbat but is not forbidden.
 
Jewish Festivals: Rabbi's Eruv Tavshilin
If you forgot to make an eruv tavshilin, you may rely on the eruv tavshilin said by the local rabbi only once in your lifetime.
Jewish Festivals: Eating Eruv Tavshilin Food
You are not required to eat food set aside for an eruv tavshilin, but the custom is to eat it for se'uda shlishit.
Jewish Festivals: Personal Eruv Tavshilin
One person per household should make an eruv tavshilin in order to allow cooking on a Jewish festival for the next day, if the next day is Shabbat.  The person sets aside something cooked and something baked and says a formula (which can be found in most siddurs).
Note An eruv tavshilin made by one person covers everyone in that household, including guests staying over for that Jewish festival--even if he or she did not intend it to cover anyone else.
Porches and Awnings as Eruv
In general, porches and awnings on the outside of a house will not qualify as being part of the house for the halachot of carrying on Shabbat if there is no eruv. The porch or awning must be in the structure of a shape of a doorway (tzurat ha'petach): vertical poles and cross beams must be on TOP of the vertical poles in order to be considered a halachically enclosed area.
Note Since these are not intended to be a doorway, no mezuza is required on them.
Measurements for Buildings as Eruv Border
Buildings in a row, more than 10 amot (about 17.5 feet or about 5.3 m) wide and less than 10 amot (about 17.5 feet or about 5.3 m) from the adjacent buildings, constitute one eruv border for a domain and no eruv is needed on that side.
Amount of Gap in Eruv Border
Eruv walls must total more than 50\% of the eruv border on each side, so that most of the expanse of the eruv is enclosed, either by an actual wall or by the form of a doorway (tzurat ha'petach), with no gate or gap over 10 amot (about 16' 8”, or 5 m) wide.
Note  In order to count as part of a border for a private domain, any doorway, gateway, archway, etc., must be intended to be a doorway, gateway, archway, etc.--and not there merely for decoration or function (as in supporting something above).