By Joel H. Cohen
NEW YORK — A Brooklyn entrepreneur plans to introduce a full-service organization that will install and maintain a community’s eruv, the wire or string that (in combination with existing structures such as telephone poles) forms a symbolic barrier enabling Shabbos observers to push strollers and carry items within its confines without violating the Sabbath.
- Pupik, founder and CEO, said his company, Eruvs ‘r Us, is due to debut this summer. Among its services, it will negotiate for approvals with local administrations, especially those that are reluctant to give permission for an eruv to be erected.
Declaring “no circumference is too great,” Pupik said that an eruv “gives a new breath of freedom to Sabbath observers,” enabling them to walk to the other side of town, possibly carrying snacks or pushing a stroller, for a child’s play date, a visit to friends or relatives or to attend services at a different shul,
“A liberating experience,” Pupik commented.
However, some religious leaders and others, who are quite content with the way an eruv they installed is working in their community, have scoffed at Eruvs ‘r Us. One critic said its projected activities are “nothing more than a niche hunt.”
Yet Pupik seems undeterred. He said his company’s representatives looked forward to offering free estimates and then recommending appropriate length, height and – in a new offering – material.
In what is being disputed on halachic and pragmatic grounds, Eruvs ‘r Us is offering to wrap the wire or string in a fabric whose design and color will depend on how eruv-welcoming or hostile a community is to the concept.
For a neighborhood, town or city that embraces the idea, the company will recommend a bright-colored fabric; where there are strong negative feelings, the fabric will be camouflage, to blend in with surroundings wires, trees or telephone poles that are part of the symbolic enclosure.
As to negotiating with appropriate local government agencies or representatives Pupik would not reveal full names. But he said he had a “crack legal team” he was sure would be successful gaining necessary permissions, perhaps with a dollar-a-year lease agreement.
He identified his legal stars only by their first names. One, Rudy (a man who has had experience with eruvim, the Hebrew plural), he said, was on an important government assignment, but would soon be available. Another is Michael who, Pupik said, has a reputation for being able to “fix” any difficult situation, and would be ideal for handling negotiations as well as the sometimes complex halachic requirements for an eruv. It was not known when he would be able to join the Eruv ‘r Us team.
Some opponents of the eruv concept call this symbolic extension of the home a “legal fiction,” and even some proponents agree that it is. But according to Pupik, whether it’s “legal or less-then-legal, fictional or absolutely true, we can handle it.”
Eruvs ‘r Us, will also be responsible for maintenance and repair, regardless of weather conditions, season or time of day (other than Shabbos, of course). As is the case with many eruv communities, the Pupik organization will run a hotline to keep Jewish residents informed of latest eruv conditions. Five-year warranty packages will be available, and pricing will be based on material and length.
Eruvim have been established in cities throughout the world. When a reporter asked whether that included Moscow, Pupik replied, “Not yet. But the White House has people with close ties there. And that’s not collusion!”
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Readers who are new to freelance writer Joel Cohen’s “Just Kidding” columns are advised that they are satirical and should not be taken seriously.
This sounds like a April Fool’s joke that some reporter got conned into.
“Pupik”? The name says it all to anyone who knows yiddish!
As is noted at the end of Joel Cohen’s “Just Kidding” column, this is satire. We could have called it an April Fool’s joke, but this is May — Editor