But activists say the problem is that the Eruv Asscoation bypassed the town while putting up the eruv and broke the signage ordinance. Local officials aren’t speaking to the media in light of the legal proceedings. And a new organization called Mahwah Strong, also against the eruv, has grown to around 3,000 members. In late July, 200 Mahwah residents gathered to protest the eruv. A petition opposing the eruv to “Protect the Quality of Our Community in Mahwah” has garnered 1,200 signatures. Mahwah residents, in addition to residents from the neighboring town of Upper Saddle River, have mobilized in opposition to the eruv and what - or who - it represents. 11, the Eruv Association filed a lawsuit against Mahwah, with Pinkasovits as a plaintiff, claiming that the demand to take down the lechis violates residents’ civil rights. But the Township of Mahwah claims the poles violate an ordinance that prohibits placing signs on the poles, and has threatened to issue summonses and demand that the poles be taken down. The Eruv Association says it obtained the necessary permits from the utility company that owns the telephone poles and installed the eruv under local police supervision. The Eruv Association pays for their upkeep. The pipes, called “lechis,” act as posts for the eruv.
Airmount shul install#
Much of the eruv consists of existing telephone wires, but to make it kosher, the association had to install PVC pipes that reach from the bottom of the wire to the ground and are affixed to telephone poles. The Vaad HaEruv, or Eruv Association, expanded an eruv in the Monsey area around the beginning of July. “People will always say the worst when they are left without information.” “I think people are reacting out of the unknown,” said Vince Crandon, a Mahwah resident who claims the eruv was erected illegally. Others have worried that a growing haredi population will mean a large group of residents who don’t support services like the public school system. Residents of Mahwah, a New Jersey town southwest of Airmont, have complained that the eruv breaks town ordinances because supports that mark the boundary are attached to public utility polls. The eruv crosses into New Jersey towns adjacent to Airmont in order to accommodate the growing religious community and, while extending only a couple blocks over the border, has led to raucous debates, vandalism and a lawsuit. The battle has coalesced around the construction of an eruv - the artificial boundary that, according to Jewish law, allows Jews to push and carry objects outside their homes on the Sabbath and holy days. Like Pinkasovits, haredi Jews who moved to the towns say they just want to live their lives in a nice place, just like their non-Jewish neighbors.īut the haredi influx has led to friction with longtime residents. The towns - green, quiet and spread out - offer the large families spacious homes at an affordable price. Pinkasovits is part of a wave of haredi Orthodox Jews who have spread out from Monsey to the surrounding towns. I don’t mind living between them, but I also don’t mind if they leave and I get more Jewish neighbors.” Wherever you look down the street, you see ‘for sale’ signs hanging. “People are moving here because this is how we want to live. “It’s going to die out,” Pinkasovits said of the anti-Semitism. Despite the abuse, he loves living in Airmont, “in my own house with my own backyard.” He hopes his non-Jewish neighbors will come to accept the new religious Jews in town.Īnd if they don’t? It’s only a matter of time before the Jews become a critical mass, Pinkasovits says. Better yet, since safety is reason for the parking rule, the village should add sidewalks (and implore the utility company to add street lights) on its main roads to increase safety for pedestrians.But Pinkasovits isn’t leaving. Moreover, if safety is indeed the reason for the ban it should have been in effect during day hours too, but the ban is only from 2:00 am to 6:00 am making it impossible for Shabbos-observant Jews to park in front of Shuls Friday afternoon as they cannot operate their vehicles until Shabbos is over Saturday well after Sundown. For example, if village officials don’t want cars parked overnight on both sides of streets ostensibly so that emergency vehicles should be able to pass easily, then the ban would be enough on just on one side of the street. It is not unfair for Airmont to reconsider ordinance and rule changes in response to the changing demographic of the village, but the above list shows that the changes are usually in one direction – To make life more difficult for the Orthodox Jewish community rather than trying to accommodate them or to leave things unchanged.
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