(JTA) — A federal judge ruled that markers creating an eruv can be placed on telephone poles in a community in New York’s Hamptons.
The East End Eruv Association is seeking to erect an eruv in the Long Island town of West Hampton Beach, in New York.
An eruv, a religious enclosure for use on the Sabbath usually marked by nearly invisible wires erected at the height of electricity wires, allows Orthodox Jews to carry items and push strollers on Shabbat. The markers at issue would be placed on about 50 telephone poles out of some 15,000 telephone poles located in the area.
The ruling was handed down Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Opponents of the eruv, including many non-Orthodox Jews, had argued that it would change the character of the neighborhood. Similar arguments are being made in Quogue and Southampton, where groups also are seeking to erect eruvs.
Proponents of the eruv in West Hampton Beach are affiliated with the Hampton Synagogue, an Orthodox shul led by Rabbi Marc Schneier.
The judge must still rule on whether putting up an eruv would violate the establishment clause of the Constitution, which provides for separation of church and state, according to the Forward.
