Because of Bert Miller, life has been far easier for thousands of Orthodox Jews in Northwest Baltimore for the last 13 years.
It was Dr. Miller who in 1981 spearheaded the creation of the eruv, a special 16-square-mile area in which some of the strict religious rules governing Orthodox behavior on the Sabbath could be slightly relaxed. And it was Dr. Miller who labored strenuously through the years to maintain the boundaries of the eruv and to publish a directory of its residents.
In light of that unquestioned record of service and effort, a grateful community never bothered to examine the internal operations of the eruv or to question Dr. Miller's decisions. Until now.
Last week, the Jewish Times revealed that the eruv directory had paid $40,000 to Dr. Miller's wife Rachelle, owner of a graphic arts business, for work she was performing on the directory this year. As a result of that disclosure, Dr. Miller resigned Wednesday night after 13 years as the eruv's only president. The eruv's board of directors, which had never been informed of the payments to Mrs. Miller, has also ordered an audit of the eruv's finances.
Avraham Cohen, Dr. Miller's successor as president, said last night that he is not worried that the audit will reveal a misappropriation of money. Dr. Miller, he is convinced, is only guilty of bad judgment.
"My opinion is that he's an honest guy, but he's not a smart guy when it comes to practical matters," Mr. Cohen said. "He didn't think that if his wife was being paid, people would see it as a conflict of interest."
Dr. Miller, a teacher with a Ph.D. in mathematics, was circumspect about the controversy yesterday, although he insisted, "I have never accepted a penny of salary, commission, or any renumeration whatsoever for the thousands of volunteer hours that I spent on behalf of the organization over 19 years."
He added that because of Mrs. Miller's help, the directory had doubled in size in four years.
The eruv is essentially a religious easement, a "legal fiction," in the words of Mr. Cohen. Orthodox Jews believe they are forbidden from carrying objects or even pushing baby strollers outside their homes on the Sabbath, which runs from Friday at sunset to Saturday at sunset. However, their reading of religious texts provides them an out. A special area -- or an eruv -- can be created around a community to essentially expand the boundaries of the home where the carrying of most objects is permitted.
