In July 1997, you published a letter on the eruv controversy. It is sad that this matter is still unresolved.

Can we have some plain answers please? Who (and when) specifically decided on poles and the wire and the permissible size of gaps, none of which can possibly have any real bearing on keeping or relaxation of God's laws?

What is the situation in Israel? How is demarcation done there, or is there just one big eruv? Demarcating boundaries on copies of local maps, or using the M25 or the shores of the British Isles would surely be adequate. Regarding freedom, of course we should accept the right to have eruvs, but not to physically mark out the area as having special advantages to some Jewish people.

R G Theobald

Boyne Avenue, Hendon

December 5, 2001 11:31