Court Dismisses 1 of 3 Suits Challenging Eruv In Long Island Village

The New York Times reports that a New York federal district court on Monday dismissed one of three lawsuits challenging a proposed eruv that Orthodox Jews in Westhampton Beach plan to put up. The dismissed lawsuit was brought by a group calling itself Jewish People for the Betterment of Westhampton Beach which claimed that permitting the eruv would violate the Establishment Clause. (See prior posting.) Proponents of the eruv, who see opposition as an attempt to keep Orthodox Jews out of the community, have bypassed a formal vote by the Village. Instead the East End Eruv Association entered a direct agreement with Verizon and Long Island Lighting to use their utility poles for the eruv-- a symbolic boundary that allows observant Jews to carry things outside their homes on the Sabbath.