2

If a Jew lives in Eruv do they,

  • Assume the Eruv is "up" unless told otherwise,
  • Assume the Eruv is "down" unless told otherwise,

Is the job collectively shared to inform others of the status of the Eruv, or is that the job of the rabbi?

Evan Carroll
  • 367
  • 2
  • 12
  • 1
    In many locales, a message goes out and/or there’s an update on a website that says if it’s up or down. There is a halachic assumption that you can rely that it’s up unless there was adverse weather conditions or other reasons to believe that something may of gone wrong – Chatzkel Aug 25 '22 at 11:47

2 Answers2

1

The official policy of the Los Angeles Eiruv is that

Blockquote

This is because the larger the eiruv is, the more room there is for something to go wrong. There are designated people with expertise in the subject whose job it is to inspect the eiruv every week. There are a number of ways people can check to see if the eiruv is up.

N.T.
  • 8,653
  • 9
  • 32
  • This may be the official policy but I doubt even 5% of the residents of that eruv (or most any large eruv) actually check a notification every week before shabbat. With the advent of digital communication, nearly everyone assumes it's up if they haven't gotten an alert email/text on Friday notifying them that the eruv is anomalously down. For better or worse. – Double AA Aug 25 '22 at 12:04
1

It's your duty to research, but you don't have to be skeptical

You can assume what you find is correct. The official policy of the Los Angeles Eiruv is that,

You should never assume that the eruv is “UP” for Shabbos. You are required to take personal responsibility to check the eruv status before each Shabbos.

But assumption means checking with peers, not physically validating, further details are provided,

You should never assume that the eruv is “UP” for Shabbos. You are required to take personal responsibility to check the eruv status before each Shabbos. You can check the LAERUV.com website, call 877-Eruv-Info, signup for the email blast, join our WhatsApp group, check Facebook or Twier, or call a friend.

So the personal responsibility stops at checking only resources. It seems to imply you do not have to assume that those sources are wrong. Moreover, and far more interesting, if the Eruv is down and others can not fix it, they have a duty to NOT inform you,

If the eruv cannot be fixed, this should not be announced publicly. This information is withheld out of concern that some people will carry anyway, desecrating Shabbat knowingly, and it is better that they transgress unknowingly rather than knowingly. The only people who should be informed are those who will definitely follow the halakha and refrain from carrying.

So it seems the only time the Eruv can be announced down is if it can be reasonably fixed which means checking can only ever cause a minor inconvenience: that's it's better for you to err in ignorance is explicit.

Evan Carroll
  • 367
  • 2
  • 12