A group of Jews on the Peninsula has asked the city of Palo Alto to make accommodations for their religious practice. This request has set off a controversy in this Silicon Valley town, which prides itself on its diversity and tolerance.
This group of Jews is not requesting the erection of a Star of David on City Hall Plaza, nor are they seeking to place a menorah on top of a firehouse during Chanukah, all of which would be a violation of church and state. Instead, they are seeking to string a virtually invisible wire to telephone poles in a limited number of areas on Palo Alto’s border.
So what’s the fuss? By stringing the wire, the Palo Alto Community Eruv Corporation is seeking to complete a boundary around the city made up mostly of already existing highway sound walls, and the San Francisquito Creek. This boundary, called an eruv, allows traditionally observant Jews to carry objects on Shabbat from the private domain — their home, for instance — into the public domain — the street.
For traditional Jews, the Sabbath, like all other aspects of life, is defined by a set of legal guidelines which describe the do’s and don’t’s of the day. Among the restrictions accepted by traditional Jews are the prohibitions of carrying objects from public domains to private domains and vice versa.
This idea extends the concept of rest, which forms an important foundation of the Sabbath. Cessation from work on the Sabbath has various forms including cessation from labor, for example, not performing those regular weekday activities in which one makes and forms things.
Moving an object from the private domain into the public domain is considered performing work on the Sabbath. Thus, parents cannot carry their children to the synagogue, push a baby carriage or carry house keys in their pockets. An eruv, however, extends the boundary of the private domain into the public one, allowing traditionally observant Jews to carry objects on the Sabbath.
Legitimate questions have arisen as to whether aiding the construction of an eruv somehow violates the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.
This was one of the questions Jewish Community Relations Council asked when the Palo Alto group approached us asking for our endorsement of the eruv. We determined that an eruv does not violate church-state separation, even though it must of necessity be constructed on publicly owned land. This is because the eruv, unlike a cross, menorah or nativity scene, is not a religious symbol.
When a religious symbol is erected on public property then it gives the appearance of government sponsorship of a particular religion, thus violating the First Amendment’s establishment clause.
An eruv, on the other hand, whether it be an already existing wall, creek or wire, is inconspicuous and not a religious symbol.
Some arguments have arisen from within the Jewish community that since this is desired “only by the Orthodox” why should we care or bother about supporting this? This assumption is falsely premised.
The Palo Alto group has garnered support from all the rabbis in Palo Alto, including those belonging to the Reform and Conservative movements. While mostly Orthodox Jews would benefit from the eruv, so too would those non-Orthodox Jews who have taken it upon themselves to observe this aspect of Shabbat.
Others have expressed concern that the organized Jewish community’s support of an eruv would be perceived by non-Jews as some kind of “Jewish legalistic trickery” and thus increase anti-Semitism. Yet, the predominantly Christian Palo Alto Ministerial Alliance has unanimously supported the eruv.
There have been some anti-Semitic mutterings from a very few non-Jews, but for these folks anything Jewish is hate-provoking. We should not allow ourselves to dance to the tune of these bigoted voices.
In the pages of the Palo Alto Weekly, a war of words has erupted on this subject. Some of the unfortunate language used has included such vituperative as “superstitious nonsense.” These voices, too, show intolerance of diversity.
The JCRC supports diversity in the Jewish — and general — communities, which is why our JCRC region overwhelmingly offered its support of the eruv almost a year ago. In some important ways, the eruv has become a testimony of Palo Alto’s commitment to diversity and tolerance. Can Palo Alto pass this test?