Photo by Colleen Reynolds Rabbi Nosson Schuman takes notes on the configuration of a Rutherford telephone pole to determine how it may be used to create an eruv for the local Orthodox Jewish community.

By Colleen Reynolds / Reporter

RUTHERFORD (Dec. 17, 2009, 9:20 a.m.) — If you spot a bearded man in dark clothing carefully examining the telephone poles and wires throughout Rutherford, jotting down pole numbers and scribbling copious notes, there is likely no need to be alarmed.

Rabbi Nosson Schuman of Congregation Beth-El, the sole Jewish house of worship in South Bergen, told The Leader with a good-natured chuckle that he has been questioned by the police on at least two occasions for his “suspicious activity.”

In actuality, Schuman has been on an innocuous, albeit time-consuming quest to determine which of the borough’s telephone poles can be used to create an eruv, or symbolic fence, which, while going largely unnoticed by most people, would greatly enhance the quality of life for members of his Orthodox congregation.

A literal reading of the Torah means that observant Jews are strictly prohibited from conducting certain types of work in the public domain — any open, non-enclosed area — on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, or on Yom Kippur. “Carrying” is one of these verboten tasks. Anything from bringing a bottle of wine over to a friend’s home to pushing a baby stroller on the street during the holy day of rest would be a transgression of God’s laws, Schuman explained in a recent Hanukkah interview at his synagogue on Montross Avenue.

Forbidden — unless a special “fence” of symbolic doorways is established and recognized.

“If we could make a semi-real, semi-symbolic fence, then we could say that area is enclosed and it becomes private,” Scuhman elaborated. “And this is what we’re trying to do in Rutherford. There are some young families that have moved in with children, and the wives will be able to come to the synagogue with their kids. In general, it creates more sense of community when friends can come visit, you can have friends over, bring a book to the park to read. This makes it much more enjoyable of a Sabbath life.”

“My goal is to give people a spiritual, meaningful form of Judaism,” Schuman continued, “to make a synagogue where everyone’s welcome, no matter what religious plane they’re on.”

“We’re hoping not only will (an eruv) make it more convenient for our congregants, but that hopefully new young families with children will want to move into the community, and I think that’ll be a bonus for everybody,” he said.

The forest of telephone poles blends into the background for most people, but it takes on a special significance for members of the Orthodox Jewish community in forming an eruv.

“Eruv” is a Hebrew word that roughly means “to combine or mix the area,” or a “combination or mixture of areas into one area” — basically, the area enclosed by a fence. In its English definition, “eruv” has come to refer to the perimeter of that enclosure — the boundary, or “fence,” itself.

Eruvim (the plural of “eruv”) surround portions of many major American cities, including New York, Boston, Baltimore and Providence, RI. In the local area, there are eruvim in many municipalities with large Jewish populations, including Passaic, Teaneck, Tenafly, Fair Lawn, Englewood and Paramus, according to people associated with Congregation Beth-El. And, naturally, they are ubiquitous in Israel.

Raymond Negari, chairman of Congregation Beth-El, said the Rutherford eruv project has been in progress for three or four years. The synagogue, which has been in Rutherford since the 1950s after relocating from East Rutherford, has been raising money and charting the area.

Schuman, who has been rabbi of the congregation for three months, has extensive experience with eruvim from his previous rabbinical posts, including his most recent, in Indianapolis.

“(The Rutherford congregation) had had a general chart, but I saw that, practically, that wouldn’t have worked out because certain areas didn’t have poles, or if the poles didn’t work out it would have been very expensive to add additions onto the poles to make it work. So I’ve been going throughout the whole community from pole to pole,” often on foot, sometimes by pedaling his bicycle.

Schuman is working painstakingly to include all of the homes of his current congregants into the enclosure, while placing the synagogue as its nucleus. He estimates that his charting is roughly 80 percent complete and hopes to complete it very soon.

Approximately 75 percent of a Rutherford eruv can be created simply by recognizing existing telephone poles. If the wires run directly over the tops of the poles or bolt directly to them, they are fine. “That’s a perfect door-post formation,” according to Orthodox tradition, Schuman said. “The poles work like contiguous door posts.”

Some of the borough’s poles fit this description nicely. Utility poles along Riverside and West Erie avenues, for example, meet the criteria of having “sending” and “receiving” wires in fencelike fashion. Poles on Orient Way, Winslow Place, Summit Cross and Park Avenue, however, present more of a challenge because they are more zigzagged.

The general perimeter of the proposed eruv would correspond roughly with the border of Rutherford, stretching along Riverside Avenue, Marginal Road, Orient Way and West Erie and Erie avenues.

Some poles present more of a challenge.

Those poles whose wires hang along the sides, rather than running over the tops or bolting into the posts, would require a plastic casing to be added directly below the bottom wire to complete the “doorway” structure. This casing, called a lechi — Hebrew for “post” — is already a common feature of telephone pole architecture. When lechis are used to complete an eruv, they are empty cases, physically, but spiritually, they are powerful signposts.

Schuman anticipates the eruv would incorporate 300 to 400 poles and the installation of 70 to 100 lechis. Approximately 20 percent to 25 percent of the route may require lechis.

Lechi installation is routinely done by telephone companies. Congregation Beth-El will fund the installation of the casings and has been in touch with PSE&G, Verizon Communications Inc. and OMO Construction regarding the project.

Once the lechis are installed, Beth-El would have to supervise them every week or so to ensure the symbolic boundary remains in place.

“We have to check and make sure that nobody used the weed whacker and knocked off our lechi,” Schuman said. Lechis must also be checked regularly for any changes to the poles, such as additions of fiber-optic or cable wires.

In stretches where wires do not connect to the poles, high-grade fishing string may be added to enclose the area, although the remaining 20 percent of the Rutherford eruv has been the most difficult to plot for Schuman, so it is not clear yet whether such string will be needed.

Mayor John Hipp is awaiting the congregation’s final plans, but has recently asked the borough council to pass a resolution allowing for Beth-El’s use of the utility poles.

“I think it’s important we honor the first amendment rights for all faiths and religions as well as those of non-believers,” Hipp said, adding that people of all faiths should feel comfortable in Rutherford.

The congregation has also asked Hipp for symbolic permission to rent the enclosed areas of the eruv for 20 years, which Hipp said he is prepared to grant. Although the particular number of years is not significant, the “rental” is an ancient Orthodox Jewish tradition.

People who do not follow the Torah literally will not be affected by this symbolic action and will retain the same use of the areas that they currently enjoy.

But members of Rutherford’s devout Orthodox Jewish community look forward to the increased freedoms that a local eruv would bring them.

Nona Malinsky has a 2-year-old child whom she is not allowed to bring to services on the Sabbath because of the prohibition against carrying.

“For us, (the eruv) would mean that we could go to the schul together on Saturday,” she said, using the Yiddish word for “synagogue.”

Currently, without the protection granted by an eruv, she can neither carry her child nor push a stroller in public on the Shabbat, the Hebrew term for the Sabbath.

Alexandre Dwek said he often has to leave his wife, Kate, at home with their 3-year-old on the Sabbath. He then goes to services at the schul alone.

“It’s tough to get dressed up all nicely, and they’re staying home,” he said. “It’s a tease.” But he noted that his family must adhere to the rules of their beliefs, just as observant Christians have rules they must follow.

“(The eruv) would enable us to travel,” he said. It would be a great thing for “people like us, who are quiet and waiting and hoping.”

Currently, there are approximately 15 men and seven women who worship at Congregation Beth-El. Although small and close-knit, the congregation hopes to grow.

“The synagogue’s not just for prayer; it’s for friendship, and I think that’s what we specialize in,” said Schuman.

Negari and Allan Marcus, vice president of the congregation, described the synagogue as like a family. “Whoever comes here becomes like family,” said Negari.

The synagogue experienced a heyday in membership from the 1950s through 1970s, but over the decades, many members have either died or moved away. The dedicated Jewish community is hoping to rebuild and service the whole South Bergen region.

“There are a lot of houses for sale here,” Negari noted. Also, this (eruv project) doesn’t cost anybody any money, any taxpayer or anybody.”

As a safe, beautiful community in proximity to New York City and Passaic with their abundance of kosher restaurants and good Jewish schools, Rutherford is an ideal community for young Jewish families, Schuman said.

The faithful meet for services at their white Queen Anne mansion synagogue on Saturday and Sunday mornings. In accordance with Orthodoxy, men and women always worship separately.

“We feel it’s easier to concentrate on God if you’re single-sex,” explained the rabbi, who can see all the men and women from his position. A mechitza, or partition, separates each sex during the services.

Although worshipers separate for services, they are welcoming to all.

For this community, utility poles are more than just mundane structures of wood, wires and cables, they are a vital link to an ancient, enduring and sacred tradition.