On today's "Eruvim" (some help).

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

I would like some info. for and from those supporting what today is called the "Eruv". Personally I do not carry on Shabbous, but would like to hear out the arguments of those who do allow and follow it. (Audio or video preferably).

[muman613]

Well, let us discuss what an Eruv is, and then we can discuss the sources for the halachas...


http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/257752/jewish/Eruv.htm

There are three types of eruvs. These are:

1) Eruv Tavshilin--allows one to cook on Yom Tov for the sake of Shabbat.
2) Eruvei Techumin--allows a person to walk more than 2000 cubits outside of a city on Shabbat or Yom Tov (Only used in cases of pressing need)
3) Eruv Chatzeirot--the most commonly referred to, and the one most people mean when they say "eruv"; explained in this article.

One of the 39 melachot forbidden on Shabbat is carrying from a private to a public domain or within a public domain. Private domains are residential areas, and originally referred to an individuals home or apartments that were surrounded by a "wall" and can be deemed to be "closed off" from the surrounding public domains. Public domains are non-residential areas like thoroughfares, highways, and open plazas.

What's if one lives in a small neighborhood that is primarily Jewish but not surrounded by a wall? Clearly, the area outside each private home counts as the "public domain" and carrying objects from one home to the next is forbidden. However, there is a way to make these larger areas and even whole cities one private domain: the circumvention of the whole domain by a wall or gate, which would permit carrying throughout the entire city. This wall or gate, the Eruv, is an enclosure that legally transforms a non-private public thoroughfare into a private domain.

The sages, however, were concerned that people would entirely forget about the prohibition of carrying on Shabbat, so they established the concept of eruvei chatzairot.

Everyone in the city (or area of the eruv) contributes food (or, as is usually done, one person in the city can supply the food for everyone) and this food is kept in one of the houses. [Today, eruvs are normally done with matzah, because it lasts a long time and doesn't have to be replenished very often.] This symbolizes that all the people who dwell within the eruv are now 'sharing' food, and are therefore one big happy family living in one "private" domain. In fact, the word eruv actually means, "mixing"-- its purpose is to blend and mix the entire community together.

This must, of course, go along with the physical enclosure of the eruv of the city (or area). According to Jewish law, the enclosure does not have to be actual walls, rather they can be continuous posts connected with string or wire according to very exact halachic specifications for height, distance between the posts, and method of attachment. Erecting these poles and running the cable is significantly more difficult than making the actual (food) eruv. in fact, the laws of eruv are from the most complicated laws in the Talmud and thus putting up an eruv requires expert assistance and input from a rabbi.

It seems you are mainly concerned with the Eruv Chatzairot... At the shul in the school which I attend Shabbatons at they have an eruv which uses a wire connected to posts...

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/700456/jewish/What-is-an-Eruv.htm

The literal meaning of the word is blending or intermingling, but that really does not tell us much. The concept of an eruv goes back to the principle of Shabbat rest. According to Shabbat rules it is forbidden to carry any item – regardless of its weight, size or purpose – on the Shabbat. Under Jewish law on Shabbat, it is forbidden to carry anything from a "private" domain into a "public" one or vice versa, or more than four cubits (approximately 6 feet) within a public domain. Private and public do not refer to ownership, rather to the nature of the area. An enclosed area is considered a private domain, whereas an open area is considered public for the purposes of these laws.

Practically, it is forbidden to carry something, such as a tallit bag or a prayer book from one's home along the street and to a synagogue or to push a baby carriage from home to a synagogue, or to another home, on Shabbat.

It became obvious even in ancient times, that on Shabbat, as on other days, there are certain things people wish to carry. People also want to get together with their friends after synagogue and take things with them—including their babies. They want to get together to learn, to socialize and to be a community.

Given the design of many communities in the past, many neighborhoods or even cities were walled. As such, the whole area was regarded as "private," and carrying allowed. That, however, wasn’t always the case. And today, it is an obvious impracticality to build walls throughout portions of cities, crossing over or through streets and walkways, in order to place one's home and synagogue within the same "private" domain.

The Answer is the Eruv

The answer is a technical enclosure which surrounds both private and hitherto public domains and thus creates a large private domain in which carrying is permitted on Shabbat. Colloquially this is known as an eruv.1 The eruv is usually large enough to include entire neighborhoods with homes, apartments and synagogues, making it possible to carry on Shabbat, since one is never leaving one's domain.

It is technical, because theoretically the eruv should be a wall. However, a wall can be a wall even if it has many doorways creating large open spaces. This means that a wall does not have to be solid. Therefore, the eruv enclosure may be created by telephone poles, for example, which act as the vertical part of a door post in a wall, with the existing cables strung between the poles acting as the lintel of the doorframe. As such, the entire "wall" is actually a series of "doorways." Added to that there may be existing natural boundaries and fences.2

What You Can Carry and What You Cannot

An eruv does not give one a license to carry everything. It does not allow the carrying of objects whose use is forbidden on Shabbat (See The Shabbat Laws for more on this topic). For example, it is forbidden to carry an umbrella since opening or closing it is forbidden.3 Therefore, an umbrella cannot be carried anywhere on Shabbat regardless of whether it is within the eruv or not. Pens cannot be carried within the eruv, since pens cannot be carried on Shabbat at all. Finally, items which will only be used after Shabbat also cannot be carried on Shabbat, even within the eruv.

The purpose of the eruv is to allow certain basic necessities to be carried, such as a tallit or a prayer book, house keys, clothing which is removed on warm days, and reading glasses. And it allows the pushing of a baby carriage along with food and diapers.

..
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[muman613]

http://koshertube.com/videos/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=50&task=videodirectlink&id=11734

[muman613]

Halachas of Eruvim, according to Torah.org...

http://www.torah.org/learning/halacha/classes/class82-8.html

Chapter 82:8
Carrying from One Domain to Another

8.In many places, it is common for a roof to extend beyond the wall of a house and project into the street, where it is supported by pillars. In such an instance, it is forbidden to take objects from the house to the area [under the extended roof], or to take objects from there into the house. Similarly, it is forbidden to carry an article a distance of four "amos" (1) within that area [under the extended roof], because it is governed by the same laws as the street [in front of it], and therefore could either be a public domain ("reshus harabim") or a "Carmelis," depending on the halachic status of that particular street.

Although the roof is supported by pillars and with them forms a "tzuras hapesach" ("shape of doorway"), which is halachically equivalent to a partition ("Mechitzah"), there are no partitions on either side, [and therefore it is not considered to be a completely enclosed private domain within which one could carry]. [To turn the area under the extended roof into a private domain,] it is necessary to erect a pole at one end [of the wall facing the street], such that it is directly opposite the [last] pillar supporting the roof [on that side], thereby creating a "tzuras hapesach" [from the side]. The same should be done at the other end [of the front wall of the house].

If several houses [with extended roofs] are lined up next to each other, it is sufficient to erect one post at both ends of the row (that is, at the edge of the corner house on either side); [in that situation] the families are required to make an "eruv chatzeros" (2)


FOOTNOTES:

(1) Opinions among the authorities as to the exact length of an "Amoh" ("cubit") range between 48 and 60cm (20 to 24 inches).

(2) "Eruv chatzeros" literally means "conglomerate of courtyards"; in the days of the Talmud, it was common for a number of private homes to share one enclosed courtyard; a properly enclosed courtyard is defined as a private domain, and thus it would be Biblically permissible to carry from a private home into the shared courtyard. However, the Sages feared that if people would be allowed to carry from a home owned by one individual, into a courtyard shared by a number of individuals, then people may mistakenly believe that it is permitted to carry from a private domain into a public domain, and vice versa. Therefore, the Sages prohibited carrying between a private home and the shared courtyard in which it is situated. Now, in order to permit carrying between the houses and the courtyard, a loaf of bread has to be collected from each house in the courtyard, and then all the loaves have to be placed in one of the houses for the duration of Shabbos. This then symbolizes that all the contributing residents are legally residing in one dwelling (the house where they left their bread). In this way, the courtyard can be viewed as the province of only one dwelling, rather than several, and since the houses and the courtyard are both the property of a single consortium, there is no prohibition to carry from one to the other (because it can no longer be viewed as carrying from a private area to a "public" area, and the potential error which prompted the original rabbinical prohibition would not occur). This whole procedure is called "Eruv Chatzeros."

In our halacha above, the roofed area in front of the row of houses is considered the equivalent of the type of courtyard discussed in the previous paragraph, and therefore requires an "eruv chatzeros."