By Bayla Rothschild, Staff Writer
Through the hard work of the Bernsteins, Fines and Schonbruns, former and current Beren campus rabbis and rebbitzins, a new eruv was added to Yeshiva University’s Beren campus over the summer. The lack of an eruv under the halachic guidance of the YU roshei yeshiva has become a complication for many students who stay on campus for Shabbat.
“It is very exciting to have it set up,” Beren Campus Rabbi Azi Fine told the YU Observer.
Halacha dictates that a Jew may not carry objects in public spaces on Shabbat, as this constitutes one of 39 general categories of labor prohibited on the day of rest. One way around this issue is to build an eruv, or boundary, which turns the area within it into a halachic private property, thus making carrying objects permissible. An eruv can be something like a wall, fence or string that surrounds a neighborhood.
Before this semester, Beren campus students had only the broader Manhattan eruv to rely on on Shabbat. This proved problematic, as some rabbis do not feel the Manhattan eruv is halachically acceptable, meaning many students do not feel comfortable relying on it.
The Beren campus eruv is the result of many years of planning, Rabbi Fine said, “because there are a lot of steps that go into it.” The first crucial step involved “sketching out the route of where and what you would even want to include,” Rabbi Fine said. “We wanted to make sure that we included all the dorm buildings, Aderet El, as we sometimes daven there, and NYU hospital, for people either in the hospital or visiting the hospital for Shabbat.”
Constructing the eruv meant connecting a wire from one light pole to another to form the eruv’s borders. After drafting the eruv’s perimeter, YU had to document every light pole that was to be used and had to receive approval from the city before the eruv could begin its construction. The building process took around two weeks to complete, Rabbi Fine said.
Over the summer, YU Rosh Yeshiva Rav Hershel Schachter conducted a final check of the eruv, ensuring it is halachically acceptable to be used by all YU students.
The eruv will be re-checked every Friday to ensure its halachic validity. If part of the eruv is not properly connected to the rest of it, then the eruv becomes halachically invalid. This can occur for a number of reasons, including harsh weather conditions such as rain and snow, and even things like construction going on in the area. This makes it crucial for an eruv to be checked regularly to make sure that it is halachically acceptable to be used every Shabbat.
At the beginning of the Fall 2025 semester, Rabbi Fine and scholar-in-residence Rabbi Yosef Tropp checked the eruv themselves every week. It takes about an hour and a half to walk the perimeter of the eruv. “The goal ultimately will be to train students how to,” Rabbi Fine said. He hopes to recruit students, by themselves or in groups, to each check a section of the perimeter, making the weekly task more enjoyable and quicker. “Anyone who wants to be involved and has availability on Fridays,” even if it isn’t every week, will be able to sign up through a form that will be sent out soon, Rabbi Fine said.
“It seems like a cool opportunity for students to be involved with checking the eruv, as that is something that we would not normally have the ability to be a part of,” Liela Silbiger (SCW ‘27) told the YU Observer.
While Silbiger relied on the Manhattan eruv and thus isn’t directly impacted by the new one, for many students who didn’t, the new eruv addresses a long-standing challenge and makes it easier for them to spend Shabbat on campus. The many difficulties included not being able to carry essentials like a siddur, a room key or other personal items during Shabbat.
Rebecca Krakauer (SCW ‘27) is one of the students who will benefit greatly from the eruv. “In the past I have enjoyed staying in for Shabbat, but it was complicated as I could not carry anything,” Krakauer told the YU Observer. “The eruv is making it easier for me to stay on campus for Shabbat and I hope it will have the same effect on other students, too.”
Photo Credit: Yeshiva University