Yosef Eliyahu Henkin - The New York Eruv

The New York Eruv

In 1936, Rabbi Henkin declared that Rabbi Yehoshua Seigel's 1905 Manhattan eruv could no longer be relied on because he had only acquired permission for ten years. However, Rabbi Henkin's main argument why the eruv could no longer be relied on was because of the construction of bridges that crossed Manhattan’s waterfront (Luach HaYovel Shel Ezras Torah, p. 62). This letter was later reprinted in Edus L’Yisroel, 1949 (p. 151).

Rabbi Henkin was involved in all the discussions about the Manhattan eruv, and on March 15, 1960, he signed on a Statement of the Vaad L’Maan Tikkun Eruvin B’Manhattan (Divrei Menachem, O.C. vol. 2 p. 10) that stated the need to investigate how to bring to fruition the plan for a Manhattan eruv.

On July 12, 1961, Rabbi Henkin wrote a letter stating that there was a sound basis to establish an eruv in Manhattan.(ibid., pp. 14–15; Hapardes 36th year, vol. 4, and Kisvei Hagriah Henkin, pp. 32–33). Yet, he wrote that until the eruv would receive the written support of most of the rabbanim of Manhattan, the permisison for the eruv would only be for times of great need.

The 1979 letter opposing the Flatbush eruv alleges that Rabbi Henkin signed the 1962 letter against the Manhattan eruv. Yet, his name is not on it, and it is on the 1960 letter in favor.

The prevailing view on this matter appears to be that of Rabbi Henkin's, which may be derived from the fact that as of June 2007, the East Side portion of the internal Manhattan Eruv was completed, offering an eruv within Manhattan to Orthodox Jews living on the East, Upper East, and Upper West Sides. Additionally, there are also two other eruvin in Manhattan's Washington Heights, a neighborhood that also once resisted the drive to establish them; one covering the Yeshiva University area and another covering the Fort Washington area.