Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 5:40 pm:

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Tenafly OKs symbolic Jewish enclosure, ending long fight
Wednesday January 25, 2006

TENAFLY, N.J. (AP) A six-year battle over Orthodox Jews' right to use symbolic plastic strips on utility poles has ended, with Borough officials agreeing to allow the strips and to pay $325,000 in court costs for a group that sued over a municipal ban.

In a 5-0 vote, the Borough Council, whose efforts to restrict the strips had already been rebuffed by courts, agreed Tuesday to let the eruvs stand.

An eruv is a symbolic district within which Orthodox Jews can perform tasks otherwise forbidden on the Sabbath such as pushing baby strollers. By having the eruv extended to the utility polls, the domain of the home is extended allowing more activities on the Sabbath.

According to the doctrine observed by some Jewish communities, objects cannot be moved from the home to the outside world on the Sabbath.

The strips, called lechis, are attached to utility poles, forming a boundary.

In 2000, a portion of the eruv was found at the Tenafly Nature Center, prompting the Borough to ban it, saying that allowing the markings could be construed as government giving preferential treatment to certain religious groups, since it's illegal in Tenafly to put posters or other objects on utility poles.

The Tenafly Eruv Association, which had obtained permission for the markings from two utility companies and the county, sued over the ban.

A federal judge ruled in 2001 that the Borough had the right to ban the lechis, but the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling, saying the Borough had selectively enforced the ban on utility pole attachments. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of that ruling.

``We didn't agree with the claim that it was any type of violation of the separation between church and state,'' Etzion Neuer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, told the New York Times for Wednesday's newspapers. ``We hope that this will be the last chapter in this painful and divisive fight.''

The strips have been erected in other New Jersey communities, including Englewood, Fair Lawn, Fort Lee, Teaneck and Paramus. Tenafly's encompassed about one-third of the Borough and linked with one in neighboring Englewood.

``This was a dark period in Tenafly history,'' Councilman Joseph Salvatore told The Record of Bergen County. ``If I had one wish, it would be that the Orthodox community was welcomed with open arms.''

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