Haverstraw Upgrades Eruv for First Time Since 2018 to Include Bigger Swath of Residents

by M.C. Millman

After more than a year of extensive preparation, a new section of the Monsey Eruv was completed this week to include a new part of Haverstraw for the first time this Shabbos.

Until now, the Mount Ivy Road area in Haverstraw had an eruv in some places but not others, as the eruv erected in 2018 followed a zig-zag pattern created by the phone lines. This meant locals had to be constantly aware on Shabbos of where the eruv stopped and started if they needed to carry. Those who were left outside of the eruv were simply stuck as they waited, some for years, for this Shabbos to come to pass, connecting them once and for all to the community eruv.

"Last summer, we started planning to expand the eruv, which required countless details," Rabbi Chaim Meir Steinmetz, Monsey Eruv Rav shares with Rockland Daily. "The project included getting permission from private property owners to put up over 600 feet of fencing."

"I reached out to Rabbi Steinmetz at the beginning of last summer after living on the block outside the eruv for two and half years," Eli Teichman, Haverstraw resident shares with Rockland Daily. "I worked together with Rabbi Steinmetz after that, and it took a tremendous amount of work over more than eight months to finally get the eruv up.

"We have a tremendous amount of appreciation to the Monsey Eruv organization as a whole and Rabbi Steinmetz for working day in and out on this project. All were extremely accommodating and worked tirelessly hand in hand to make sure everything was done correctly. It means the world to my family that we are included in the bigger Haverstraw eruv now and more connected to other families. "

And so this Shabbos will not only be the first Shabbos of spring, but also the first Shabbos all of Mount Ivy can carry on.