The hot line telephone started ringing just after noon yesterday as concerned Orthodox Jews checked that the Baltimore County eruv is intact so they can enjoy a relaxed Sabbath.
Shmuel Siegel, 18, who spent more than two hours checking the boundaries, assured callers that all was well.
Since last spring, the eruv, a symbolic enclosure, has bounded a large area of northwestern Baltimore County. Created to help attract more Orthodox Jews to the county, the eruv establishes a "private domain" in which Sabbath restrictions against "work" from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday are relaxed -- very slightly.
For example, within the eruv, which is considered "private" and a symbolic expansion of the home, the Orthodox are permitted to carry keys, food or books for Sabbath use or to wheel baby strollers, all considered "work" and forbidden outside a private domain.
"It makes things freer for people. They're able to move about more freely, especially women with children," which makes the area attractive to observant Jewish families, said Rabbi Simcha Shafran, 72, of Adath Yeshurun-Mogen Abraham Congregation, off Old Court Road near Interstate 795.
The new eruv, established by four Orthodox congregations, basically competes for new residents with the Park Heights eruv, which was created in 1981 and covers northwestern Baltimore and part of the adjacent suburbs.
Orthodox leaders have discussed expanding the two eruvs until they connect but no decisions have been reached, said Shafran, a leader in the local movement.
Baltimore's eruv is one of the largest among about 20 North American Jewish communities that have them. The Park Heights eruv has attracted a significant number of new residents, and Shafran expects the same in the county zone, which embraces the area from the Beltway to McDonogh Road and from McDonogh Road and I-795 to Liberty Road.
Housing generally is more expensive in this area than in the city eruv, and that has attracted a growing number of out-of-staters, particularly from New York, the rabbi said.
Orthodox Jews frequently have large families and "we have very good [Jewish] schooling for boys and girls here. There are several choices for Orthodox education," he said. "We want to entice Orthodox Jews to move into our area. We are trying to revive the area for observant Jews. We are trying to advertise that the eruv is here."
Although some non-Jews might regard the eruv as a loophole, the Orthodox don't see it that way.
