How Eruv Fight Is Setting Secular Jews Against Orthodox in the Summer Paradise of the Hamptons

Inclusive or Exclusive?: Does an eruv allow people to take part in civic life or does it intrude on it?
For six years, the Jews of the Hamptons have gone head-to-head over a piece of wire they can barely see.
The Orthodox finally won the right to erect the eruv, a wire that allows Orthodox Jews to travel on the Sabbath because they consider it as an extension of the home, in the tony towns of Quogue and Southampton earlier this year after a federal court ruled in their favor. A public hearing on Thursday will determine whether the same will happen in nearby Westhampton.
The controversy has set secular and Orthodox Jews at odds in this swath of Long Island known as a playground of the super rich and celebrities, and old wealth. Tensions rose within the Jewish community of mostly summer residents when secular opponents argued the eruv’s presence would ruin the aesthetics of the town of Southampton, despite the fact that they acknowledge they can’t even see it.
Furthermore, some secular Jews argued that the eruv will mark the area as Jewish, which they object to.
“As a Reform Jew, I find it extremely offensive to create a distinction that this is a Jewish area,” said Arnold Sheiffer in an interview with The New York Times. Sheiffer is the leader of the aptly named group Jewish People Opposed to the Eruv.
Supporters of the eruv approached Verizon and Long Island Power Authority with the proposition back in 2011 to use telephone poles for the ritual barrier. They had taken over the idea when the Hampton Synagogue received backlash in 2008 for wanting to install lechis, or markers. Three years later, the EEEA sued the town governments after learning it wanted to fine the phone companies if they allowed the eruv to be erected. In 2014, a federal court judge ruled that the towns could not block the eruv, effectively allowing the plan to move forward.
The Jewish People Opposed to the Eruv argued that installing a religious object on public property violated the First Amendment edict requiring separation of church and state.They lost the argument in 2013, but it’s something still on their minds.
The leaders in both Southampton town and Quogue village seem relieved to have settled the argument, and now it looks as if Westhampton may soon follow suit.
But according to The Southampton Press, not everybody is convinced.Brian Sokoloff, a lawyer for Westhampton, says it may agree to allow the eruv for now, while holding out hope that future legal action might overturn the decision.
Who knows — the seemingly small-time case could end up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court one day.
“I’m not satisfied with the … ruling that a religious symbol can be placed on public property,” he said in the Times article. “But I recognize, and my clients recognize, that this is now the law until it is overturned in another case.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
- 4
Opinion Is this new documentary giving voice to American Jewish anguish — or simply stoking fear?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Trump’s plan to enlist Elon Musk began at Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grave
-
Film & TV In this Jewish family, everybody needs therapy — especially the therapists themselves
-
Fast Forward Katrina Armstrong steps down as Columbia president after White House pressure over antisemitism
-
Yiddish אַ בליק צוריק אויף די פֿאָרווערטס־רעקלאַמעס פֿאַר פּסח A look back at the Forward ads for Passover products
קאָקאַ־קאָלאַ“, „מאַקסוועל האַוז“ און אַנדערע גרויסע פֿירמעס האָבן דעמאָלט רעקלאַמירט אינעם פֿאָרווערטס
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.