Just over a year after it applied for a new eruv in the Golders Green area, the Federation of Synagogues has been told a highways licence has been granted and installation can begin.
There has been a KLBD-supervised eruv in Golders Green — the North West London Eruv — for more than 20 years, but many of the strictly Orthodox members of the community refuse to use it. KLBD supervises more than a dozen eruvin across the region.
In making a new application to Barnet Council for an eruv with different boundaries to the existing KLBD eruv, Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman, the head of the Federation Beth Din, said he recognised “that there may be some members of the Orthodox Jewish community who will choose not to make use of any local eruv, whatever its specifications”.
But he said that he had been approached by a senior rabbi “who has turned to me on behalf of several Orthodox synagogues and their constituent communities that lie within the boundaries of the proposed eruv. These communities too wish to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to establish an eruv that would benefit their members”. This meant, Rabbi Zimmerman said, making some amendments to the original application.
All the changes have now been approved and work is expected to go ahead in the coming months.
A spokesman for KLBD and the United Synagogue said: “An eruv makes Shabbat observance more pleasant in many ways as it enables many thousands of Jewish people living in the area to enjoy Shabbat to the full. Eruvin are especially helpful to families with young children who want to use a pram or baby buggy outside their home on Shabbat and to people who use a wheelchair or walking frame. Others will find it useful to be able to carry house keys, reading glasses or books to a shiur.
“Before the eruv, families with young children were home-bound each Shabbat. Many couples who had children too young to walk to synagogue could not attend a Shabbat service together, nor a kiddush or simcha. Grandparents are now able to host their younger grandchildren on Shabbat. Shabbat events are available to all families – young and old, mobile and less mobile. Everyone can now join in the Shabbat religious and social life of the community.”
Jewish News has asked the Federation of Synagogues for comment but there has been no response.
