The Significance of an Eruv in Lakeview

The purpose of an eruv, from its very conception by the rabbis, is to allow a community to celebrate Shabbat to its full extent, in all its excitement and richness, without losing the holiness of Shabbat. Thus the rabbis wanted people to go to shul on Shabbat, to go for walks with the family on Shabbat, to eat over at other people's homes on Shabbat, and, perhaps most importantly, to share the Shabbat atmosphere with others. However, the rabbis did not want us to forget about the Torah prohibitions against carrying even the smallest object, nor the Torah's outlook that Shabbat should be concentrated in the home: "Let no person leave their home on Shabbat," the book of Exodus tells us. The laws of eruv, and the philosophy of eruv let us synthesize these two concerns. By adhering to the strict and detailed laws of setting up the eruv (including sharing a loaf of bread amongst the entire community) we create one big home; we become one big family sharing Shabbat with each other in this great home that includes the entire area contained by the eruv; we all participate in the establishing of a unifying and solidifying structure.

How will the eruv affect us? It makes full observance of Shabbat more meaningful for many. People can to carry keys to their homes, keys to get into the shul, handkerchiefs to blow their noses on the way to shul and any other necessities. It is as if they were carrying them in their own homes. The eruv enables us to do this by using the law and appreciating the law, not by ignoring the law. When you bring food for Shabbat lunch to a friend's table, or a bottle of wine, or a book to learn, you do so remembering that this community is one family, and that only because we all look out for each other as family are we allowed to carry from home to home or from home to shul. The community is responsible to bring people together for Shabbat, but it must do so in a way that preserves Shabbat rather than forces people to give up parts of it. How many people do you invite over for Friday night who carry over a bottle of wine once Shabbat has started already? The rabbis designed the eruv to make Shabbat easier in Lakeview, to make a bottle of wine a gift rather than a headache.

Of course, one of the greatest freedoms the eruv provides is for families to take their young children to shul, with baby blankets, an extra set of clothes and a bottle, etc. It enables people with young children to visit our community, to visit grandparents here, and encourages outsiders to try our area when sampling communities in Chicago. Most families with children who are Shabbat observant will not consider living in an area where the wife has to stay indoors all of Shabbat with the baby instead of going to shul or to a friend's house. The eruv prevents families from having to make the difficult decision whether to sacrifice an important Shabbat law (not carrying) in order to participate in communal life; they can now both observe Shabbat fully and enjoy the community fully because of the eruv.

For many years I looked forward to the Shabbat when I could stroll on the lake on a hot summer's day with a cool breeze and pass dozens of families with their kids of all different ages playing or sleeping in baby carriages, knowing that the eruv brings them all together as one family in one home. Today, my family and I can do that, witnessing the community keeping Shabbat in its full glory.

--Rabbi Asher Lopatin