Article 2FRA1 There's a hidden wire stretched above Manhattan

There's a hidden wire stretched above Manhattan

by
Mark Frauenfelder
from on (#2FRA1)
Screen-Shot-2017-03-13-at-11.09.38-AM.jp

Manhattan is just one of hundreds of metropolitan areas in the United States that has an eruv, which is a wire that symbolically turns public spaces into private spaces during the Jewish Sabbath.

From Mental Floss:

On the Sabbath, which is viewed as a day of rest, observant Jewish people aren't allowed to carry anything - books, groceries, even children - in public places (doing so is considered "work"). The eruv encircles much of Manhattan, acting as a symbolic boundary that turns the very public streets of the city into a private space, much like one's own home. This allows people to freely communicate and socialize on the Sabbath - and carry whatever they please-without having to worry about breaking Jewish law.Along with everything else in New York City, the eruv isn't cheap. It costs a group of Orthodox synagogues $100,000 a year to maintain the wires, which are inspected by a rabbi every Thursday before dawn to confirm they are all still attached.

External Content
Source RSS or Atom Feed
Feed Location http://boingboing.net/rss
Feed Title
Feed Link http://boingboing.net/
Reply 0 comments