A Look Back at Our Borough’s Historic Role
Earlier this week, the Daf Yomi world made the siyum on Maseches Eiruvim. This is an opportunity to look back at the historic role Queens played in paving the way for the establishment of eiruvim throughout America and to remember the work of some of the people who made it possible. Read on...
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This
article about eruvin in Queens is fascinating. As an epilogue, I would
add that the Judge Aaron Goldstein mentioned in this article was in Maimonides
Hospital in 1999 prior to his passing. A member of the nascent Boro Park
Vaad HaEruv happened to be visiting someone at the hospital at the time and
struck up a conversation with the neighboring patient. This patient mentioned
that he was Judge Aaron Goldstein and that his proudest moment on the bench was
when he issued his ruling in favor of eruvin. He added that he was very
pleased that his ruling was being employed all over the world.
Additionally, I would like to expound on
what the article accepts as a simple matter namely that Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l
allowed the Queens eruv (Kew Gardens Hills). In fact, there has been
much spilled ink regarding the difference between Brooklyn where Rav Moshe objected
to an eruv and Queens where he allowed one. There has been absolutely no
rational reason that has been suggested to date. All the arguments submitted
are clearly excuses after the fact.
There are people who attempt to
rationalize why Rav Moshe allowed an eruv to be erected in
Queens. For example, some allege that Queens was not incorporated into the city
as a whole unit but rather as a set of disparate neighborhoods, which is evident
by the fact that when one writes a letter he indicates the neighborhood not
just the borough, e.g. Kew Garden Hills, Queens as opposed to the other boroughs.
Therefore, they argue, the population of Queens is considered divided, and each
neighborhood is independent of the other, which is why Rav Moshe allowed
an eruv to be erected there. This argument is specious; Rav
Moshe never claimed that Kew Gardens was a separate entity, only that it was a
small neighborhood in Queens (Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:86
and Addendum to O.C. 4:89). Additionally, Kew Gardens Hills is
part of Queens just as Boro Park and Flatbush are part of Brooklyn, as can be
seen on any map of the area. Every neighborhood in Queens is built up to the
adjoining neighborhood and forms one contiguous borough just as all
neighborhoods do in Brooklyn. Why then did Rav Moshe allow an eruv in
Queens and oppose one in Brooklyn?
Moreover, according to Rav Moshe, it
makes no difference whether or not Queens is considered as one city since Rav
Moshe’s main thesis is that we view an area of twelve mil by twelve mil
and not how the boroughs are conceptualized. If the twelve mil by twelve
mil area contains a population of 3 million, an eruv cannot be
erected in any part of it (ibid., 1:139:5, 4:87-88). Kew Garden Hills is part
of the twelve mil by twelve mil of Queens just as Boro Park and
Flatbush are part of the twelve mil by twelve mil of Brooklyn. If
the population of Queens doesn’t meet the requirement of Rav Moshe’s chiddush
to be classified as a reshus harabbim, neither does the population of
Brooklyn. Even more so, since both Brooklyn and Queens have similar populations
of over 2 million, why did Rav Moshe not apply the same gezeirah that he
implemented regarding Brooklyn and Detroit to negate an eruv in Kew
Gardens Hills, Queens as well (see Three Million: More or Less?)?
Additionally, in a speech given a while
ago about the eruv in Flatbush, there was a claim made that
the reason Rav Moshe allowed an eruv in Kew Gardens Hills,
Queens was that the area is encircled with mechitzos. This is a
fabrication, as Rav Moshe never refers to mechitzos in
any teshuvah concerning Kew Gardens Hills (ibid., 4:86 and
Addendum to O.C. 4:89). Nor does anyone else mention mechitzos regarding
Kew Gardens Hills (See Minchas Chein, siman 24
and Minchas Asher, 1:51-52, 2:56-57, 2:59). More so, since Brooklyn
is encircled with mechitzos as well, why should it be any
different than Kew Gardens Hills? If Brooklyn would require delasos at
its pirtzos, Kew Gardens Hills would require delasos as
well (Igros Moshe, O.C. 1:139:3).
Some even argue that those establishing the
Kew Gardens Hills eruv did not apprise Rav Moshe of the pertinent statistics
of Queens. First of all, this argument is motzei laz on those people whose
only aveira was that they wanted to be mezakeh their neighborhood
with an eruv. In any case, if this is so, why is it so difficult for
these same people to believe that Rav Moshe was sold a pack of lies regarding Brooklyn
(e.g. that the borough contains a population of greater than 3 million,
including more than a million people commute into the borough to work, and that
both Boro Park and Flatbush contain a population more than shishim ribo,
and that Brooklyn is not encompassed by mechitzos)? I guess when the
objective is to negate eruvin, we believe all tales, but when the goal
is to establish an eruv, we don’t even believe the written word.
See these posts for the underlying
reasons why I believe Rav Moshe allowed the Kew Gardens Hills eruv: Part1, Part 2
