Eruv extended to six neighborhoods

Those that observe Torah law in six Queens communities will now be able to move about freely on the Sabbath and during the High Holy Days thanks to a yearlong process which culminated at Queens Borough Hall last week.
The Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center – with the help of prominent community rabbis – have extended an eruv – a wire connected to light posts creating an enclosed boundary – linking six communities to the nursing and rehabilitation center, allowing those who practice Torah law to travel within those confines while carrying items during the Sabbath. The objective of the extension was to allow members of the community to push strollers and visit loved ones at Margaret Tietz without obstructing Torah law.
During the Sabbath – which begins at sunset on Friday and ends after sunset on Saturday night – carrying car keys, foreign objects and pushing baby carriages is stanchly restricted. Having an eruv in the community allows Jewish people the right to carry and makes it easier to leave one’s home during the Sabbath. Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center fell outside the pre-existing eruv boundaries making it hard for Jewish people and grandchildren to spend time with their families during the Sabbath or the calendar’s High Holy Days; a reality that sparked the expansion initiative one year ago.
“We have to thank Margaret Tietz for being committed to this project,” said Rabbi Richard Weiss of Young Israel of Hillcrest, who was described by Linda Spiegel, Director of Public Affairs for Margaret Tietz as “instrumental to the project’s success.”
Rabbis, representatives from Margaret Tietz and their parent company, Beth Abraham Family of Health Services gathered at Queens Borough Hall to officially wrap up a year of work between the six neighborhoods and to celebrate the successful expansion. Marshall – who grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx – granted permits for the eruv extension without reservation and acknowledged how important the eruv is to the Jewish community.
“It speaks to the great multi-ethnic community we have here in Queens,” said Marshall. “We have the most multi-ethnic community in the United States.”
According to a proclamation read aloud by Marshall during the gathering, the permit on the eruv will last for 99 years, costing $1. The communities within the confines of the eruv include Hillcrest, Kew Garden Hills, Jamaica Estates, Briarwood, Holliswood and the Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.