Sunday, July 03, 2005
Symbolic fences ease Sabbath for Orthodox Jews
Yaakov Watkins stands outside his Eruvmobile, an Oldsmobile used to patrol Denver eruvs, or Orthodox Jewish enclaves, in search of maintenance issues. He uses the pole to untangle strings marking the boundaries.
Life isn't easier at the Kasztls' house because of where their laundry room is, which kitchen appliances they own or how much maintenance their floor coverings require.
It's easier because of where their house is located.
This Orthodox Jewish family lives in one of Denver's three eruvs, or well-defined enclaves, that have been created to ease Orthodox Jews' lives during the Sabbath.
Carrying anything, be it a book or a baby, anywhere except in one's home or yard is defined as work by Jewish law and is prohibited from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Thousands of years ago, rabbis decided that a yard could be defined as an area large enough to include many homes as long as they were properly enclosed and became one community.
The eruv was born.
Living in one isn't required, nor does it release Orthodox Jews from the broader prohibition against work on the Sabbath, which means they may not drive, turn on lights or cook.
"When I grew up in Denver, there were no eruvs, and we survived, but it sure is nice to have one," said Ben Kasztl.
Kasztl, a real estate agent who helps other Orthodox families find homes, has lived in the East Denver Eruv for eight years. He and his wife, Chava, have two young daughters.
"My wife loves it because it gives us so much freedom," he said. "If you have an infant, you end up stuck at home during Sabbath. Living here has opened up whole new opportunities for us."
Hundreds of cities around the United States and the world have eruvs, including New York, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
Like Denver, many have more than one because they have more than one Jewish neighborhood.
Denver's oldest eruv was founded in 1993 near the East Denver Orthodox Synagogue at 198 S. Holly St. A second was established in the mid-1990s in west Denver near Congregation Zera Avraham, 1560 Winona Court, and a third was founded about two years ago in Greenwood Village near Ahavas Yisroel-Aish HaTorah, 9550 E. Belleview Ave.
An estimated 6 million Jews live in the U.S., about 73,000 of them in Colorado, according to a survey by the American Jewish Committee in 2002.
It's difficult to determine how many of them are Orthodox Jews, but Yaakov Watkins estimates that Colorado has at most 7,000. Watkins is director of the East Denver Eruv and helped established the one in Greenwood Village.
"We're not creating a place that's 'Jews only,"' he said, "but rather a place Jews can be. Jewish people tend to live in certain neighborhoods, and we put up an eruv around where people already live. We have a clear cultural identity and are used to living in a close-knit community."
The fences around an eruv are symbolic and unobtrusive. They incorporate buildings, overhead wires, poles and other objects in the landscape.
Each week, Watkins drives and walks the boundaries of the East Denver and Greenwood Village eruvs, and calls a repair crew if one is needed. Eruv residents can call a hotline to check its status or have notification sent to them via e-mail.
Location within an eruv can add as much as 10 percent to the value of a house in some cities. In Sharon, Mass., for example, homes inside an eruv were valued at $25,000 more than nearly identical homes located outside, the Boston Globe reports.
Demand isn't as strong in Denver. Said Watkins: "Theory says (being located in an eruv) would make a house more valuable, but, in reality, paint job A or paint job B could be a bigger factor."
Because Orthodox Jews don't drive on the Sabbath, Kasztl said, how close a home is to a synagogue may have more impact on its value.
"The furthest someone is going to walk to synagogue is probably a mile and a half," he said.
"If the house is farther than that, it's not going to work for a Jewish family."
The economic impact of an eruv is more obvious for businesses that cater to Orthodox Jews, Watkins said. "I was getting so many phone calls from people looking for businesses that I started to feel like a mini chamber of commerce."
In addition to aiding Orthodox Jews in the practice of their faith, Watkins believes, the eruvs strengthen community.
"The bottom line of an eruv is that it allows us to get together on Sabbath," he said.
"And by defining the boundaries of our community, we are bringing that community together."
Three hotels near the East Denver Eruv now also are doing their part to serve the community. Two of them donate maintenance help to the eruv, and all provide special touches that appeal to the Jewish guest.
"The Orthodox community gets overlooked a lot, so we wanted to go out of our way to accommodate them," said Stephanie Simons, guest-services manager at Staybridge Suites, 4220 E. Virginia Ave. "It's an important sector of business for us, so we make sure they can celebrate their faith and stay here."
Simons estimates that about 20 percent of the hotel's guests are Jewish. Several rooms have timers that turn on the lights during the Sabbath, and manual door keys are available for Jews who observe the restriction on electricity use during Sabbath.
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_2836401
Yaakov Watkins stands outside his Eruvmobile, an Oldsmobile used to patrol Denver eruvs, or Orthodox Jewish enclaves, in search of maintenance issues. He uses the pole to untangle strings marking the boundaries.
Life isn't easier at the Kasztls' house because of where their laundry room is, which kitchen appliances they own or how much maintenance their floor coverings require.
It's easier because of where their house is located.
This Orthodox Jewish family lives in one of Denver's three eruvs, or well-defined enclaves, that have been created to ease Orthodox Jews' lives during the Sabbath.
Carrying anything, be it a book or a baby, anywhere except in one's home or yard is defined as work by Jewish law and is prohibited from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Thousands of years ago, rabbis decided that a yard could be defined as an area large enough to include many homes as long as they were properly enclosed and became one community.
The eruv was born.
Living in one isn't required, nor does it release Orthodox Jews from the broader prohibition against work on the Sabbath, which means they may not drive, turn on lights or cook.
"When I grew up in Denver, there were no eruvs, and we survived, but it sure is nice to have one," said Ben Kasztl.
Kasztl, a real estate agent who helps other Orthodox families find homes, has lived in the East Denver Eruv for eight years. He and his wife, Chava, have two young daughters.
"My wife loves it because it gives us so much freedom," he said. "If you have an infant, you end up stuck at home during Sabbath. Living here has opened up whole new opportunities for us."
Hundreds of cities around the United States and the world have eruvs, including New York, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
Like Denver, many have more than one because they have more than one Jewish neighborhood.
Denver's oldest eruv was founded in 1993 near the East Denver Orthodox Synagogue at 198 S. Holly St. A second was established in the mid-1990s in west Denver near Congregation Zera Avraham, 1560 Winona Court, and a third was founded about two years ago in Greenwood Village near Ahavas Yisroel-Aish HaTorah, 9550 E. Belleview Ave.
An estimated 6 million Jews live in the U.S., about 73,000 of them in Colorado, according to a survey by the American Jewish Committee in 2002.
It's difficult to determine how many of them are Orthodox Jews, but Yaakov Watkins estimates that Colorado has at most 7,000. Watkins is director of the East Denver Eruv and helped established the one in Greenwood Village.
"We're not creating a place that's 'Jews only,"' he said, "but rather a place Jews can be. Jewish people tend to live in certain neighborhoods, and we put up an eruv around where people already live. We have a clear cultural identity and are used to living in a close-knit community."
The fences around an eruv are symbolic and unobtrusive. They incorporate buildings, overhead wires, poles and other objects in the landscape.
Each week, Watkins drives and walks the boundaries of the East Denver and Greenwood Village eruvs, and calls a repair crew if one is needed. Eruv residents can call a hotline to check its status or have notification sent to them via e-mail.
Location within an eruv can add as much as 10 percent to the value of a house in some cities. In Sharon, Mass., for example, homes inside an eruv were valued at $25,000 more than nearly identical homes located outside, the Boston Globe reports.
Demand isn't as strong in Denver. Said Watkins: "Theory says (being located in an eruv) would make a house more valuable, but, in reality, paint job A or paint job B could be a bigger factor."
Because Orthodox Jews don't drive on the Sabbath, Kasztl said, how close a home is to a synagogue may have more impact on its value.
"The furthest someone is going to walk to synagogue is probably a mile and a half," he said.
"If the house is farther than that, it's not going to work for a Jewish family."
The economic impact of an eruv is more obvious for businesses that cater to Orthodox Jews, Watkins said. "I was getting so many phone calls from people looking for businesses that I started to feel like a mini chamber of commerce."
In addition to aiding Orthodox Jews in the practice of their faith, Watkins believes, the eruvs strengthen community.
"The bottom line of an eruv is that it allows us to get together on Sabbath," he said.
"And by defining the boundaries of our community, we are bringing that community together."
Three hotels near the East Denver Eruv now also are doing their part to serve the community. Two of them donate maintenance help to the eruv, and all provide special touches that appeal to the Jewish guest.
"The Orthodox community gets overlooked a lot, so we wanted to go out of our way to accommodate them," said Stephanie Simons, guest-services manager at Staybridge Suites, 4220 E. Virginia Ave. "It's an important sector of business for us, so we make sure they can celebrate their faith and stay here."
Simons estimates that about 20 percent of the hotel's guests are Jewish. Several rooms have timers that turn on the lights during the Sabbath, and manual door keys are available for Jews who observe the restriction on electricity use during Sabbath.
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_2836401
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