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EruvAn Eruv is a rope or wire strung around a neighborhood or region that allows Orthodox Jews observing Shabbat to treat the area as if it were their home. The string must form a continuous boundary and may be strung along telephone poles or buildings. A natural boundary such as a river can also be used as part of the eruv. This is important mostly because of shabbat restrictions on carrying. On the Shabbat, from Friday at sundown to Saturday at full dark, one may not carry. In practice, this precludes one from carrying keys, or a siddur (prayer book), or from wheeling a baby carriage. The Eruv, while it is a legal fiction, satisfies most orthodox rabbis and enables Jewish communities to enjoy Shabbat with greater ease. Controversies The installation of Eruvim (plural form) has been a matter of contention in many neighbourhoods around the world, classic examples are Barnet, England; and Outremont, Quebec. The issue is often as to whether the stringing of the Eruv to public property violates the separation of "church and state." In the Outremont debate, the issue of religious law and territory was also raised by non-Hasidic members of the borough. In most cases, Eruvim are allowed because they are unobtrusive and are generally, though certainly not always, seen to not impede on the religious rights of other community members, while providing an invaluable service to the observant orhtodox-Jewish population. Under Jewish law, the Jewish community must seek agreement with the community at large before installing the eruv, which adds a layer of complexity to the issue of their installation. In Outremont and other extreme cases, some congregations have sued local authorities to allow their installation. This method is rare and controversial, some critics within the Jewish community have criticised the very rare incidents of lawsuits for their installation, as the method is not considered by all to be equivalent to community support. However, Outremont was a special case, as one city councillor was vehemently opposed to the installation, for reasons that may be perceived as personal. The councillor had lived in a building owned by a local congregation which was operating a synagogue on the first floor without the necessary zoning under Outremont's very strict zoning rules. When the congregation relocated to a busy commercial street, she remained opposed and went as far as to sue the congregation herself at her own expense to stop the construction of the new shtiebl. The councillor, Forget, has also opposed minor "special treatments" given to the Hasidic community such as not ticketing cars that are left parked during Shabbat, the day of rest for observant Jews. The eruv in Outremont has been studied as an example of planning issues exacerbating pre-existing tensions in ethnically diverse and polarised neighbourhoods. Many people opposed to the eruv did not in fact fully understand what it was, or what it meant for the local Hasidim. Many of these people were simply using the issue to vent their frustration with the ultra-orthodox Outremont community of approximately 6200 people who have long operated as a very independent community in all respects within Outremont, an elite French-Canadian suburb north of the city centre and Mont-Royal.
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