<html>
<body>
<font size=3>From
<a href="http://eruvonline.blogspot.com/2008/11/eruvin-in-pre-war-europe-eyewitness.html" eudora="autourl">
http://eruvonline.blogspot.com/2008/11/eruvin-in-pre-war-europe-eyewitness.html</a>
<br><br>
Rabbi Poliakoff, a Baltimore native, studied in the Telshe and
Slabodka Yeshivas in Europe. He served as a chaplain during WW II.
<br><br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>Minhagei Lita<br><br>
Customs of Lithuanian Jewry</b> <br><br>
<br>
By Rabbi Menachem Mendel Poliakoff<br><br>
<b>Eruv<br><br>
</b></div>
It is a mitzvah to establish an <i>eruv</i>, and <i>Chazal</i> even
instituted a <i>brachah</i> for setting one up. Additionally, the local
Rabbi is obligated to establish an <i>eruv</i> for his community. There
was hardly a community in pre-war Lithuanian, Poland, or Russia without
an <i>eruv</i>. I surmise the same was true regarding Rumania, Austria,
Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. There were also <i>eruvin</i> in Vienna and
Paris. <br><br>
Today many American communities have an <i>eruv</i>, which is as it
appropriate, and in consonance with the halachah. Whoever instituted them
deserves commendation. However, in keeping with the spirit of extremism
in vogue these days, some people think they are demonstrating great piety
by publicly refusing to rely on the <i>eruv</i>. Those who ostentatiously
refuse to use the <i>eruv</i> cause the uninformed to feel guilty for
using it. They are also violating halachah (<i>Shulchan Aruch</i>,
366:13). Even worse, the Talmudic Sages and later authorities would have
accused them of being <i>apikorsim</i> [heretics] (<i>Eruvin</i> 31b,
<i>Mishnah</i> and <i>Rashi</i>, 61b, <i>Rabbeinu Yehonasan</i>, and
<i>Shulchan Aruch</i> 385:1). The Sages of the Talmud highly praise King
Solomon, and expressed their gratitude to him for instituting the laws of
<i>eruv</i>, hailing it as one of the most important rabbinic regulations
ever enacted. Consequently, they frowned upon people who impeded those
who sought to install and use an <i>eruv</i>.<br><br>
The knowledgeable dissenters base their objection on the Chafetz Chaim’s
ruling in his <i>Mishnah Berurah</i>. <br><br>
I am well aware of the <i>Mishnah Berurah’s</i> strong objection to the
<i>eruvin</i> we have installed during the 20th century all over the
world, and I am shocked. His objection is not new. It has been a point of
contention for hundreds of years, and it is evident the overwhelming
majority of the great scholars disagreed with this objection. Proof of
this is there was no community large or small without an <i>eruv</i>,
despite the objection of the <i>Mishnah Berurah</i> and those who
preceded him. <br><br>
See the URL for the rest. YL</font></body>
<br>
</html>