Dan’s Papers, whose 32,940 circulation makes it the most widely read weekly in the Hamptons, said today that an eruv Jewish boundary in Westhampton Beach would have a very negative effect on the town and is urging Pope Francis to intervene.

The suggestion by columnist “Mr. Sneiv” that Pope Francis, who will be in New York today, could take time out to intervene in the eruv “war,” is far fetched and unlikely of fulfillment.

But the idea that the Vatican or even local clergy could intervene in this eight-year-old dispute is not.

Dan's Papers

The 800-word column in the biggest paper in the Hamptons demolishes claims made in court and by the East End Eruv Assn. that eruvim are somehow “invisible” and the public doesn’t know what they mean. It is a notorious concept not only widely publicized but also “outed” by the fact that virtually all eruvim are shown in graphic detail on Synagogue and Google websites.

Eruvim mean that public land and property are converted into the “domain” or home of the believers. Congregants are supposed to share the same table. A symbolic piece of bread is kept somewhere and changed each year. Pushing, carrying and certain other tasks are allowed within the eruv on the Sabbath that would otherwise be forbidden.

An Eruv Creates a Community

That is a minor offshoot of an eruv which creates a “community” of the believers. Ultra-Orthodox will not move to an area without an eruv.

Pope Francis is in New York today to address the General Assembly of the U.N. He has some time later today before he leaves for Philadelphia.

Mr. Sneiv said he wrote “months ago” to the Vatican asking for intervention by the Pope who could “bring peace before this escalates into the throwing of rocks or worse.”

WHB “already has a healthy mix of religious options including a Synagogue and Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches,:” he writes.

Residents have been fighting an eruv since 2008 because they feel that it “could eventually change the entire look and feel of the community,” he says.

Dan’s Son Opposed Eruv

David Rattiner, son of Dan Rattiner who founded Dan’s Papers 55 years ago, wrote in the paper on March 29, 2012 that “The eruv is a big problem for me because this does not appear to be about religious freedom, in my opinion, but about borders. Borders are not just physical walls or signs in society. They are also very much psychological borders, no matter how small a sign represents them, they are extremely powerful.”

The eruv proposed for WHB “further divides us as a community and the further we divide ourselfs from each other, the less free we become, the less helpful we become to one another, and the more combative we become to one another.”

Rattiner noted that his father is Jewish and his mother in Catholic. He feels like he is “both religions.” He feels “very comfortable attending church on a Sunday, and frequently do, and I feel very comfortable attending temple and celebrating Jewish holidays.”

The Hampton Synagogue, WHB, claimed in August 2014 that an eruv had been erected. However, neither local citizens or the Southampton Press have been able to find any physical signs of the eruv that is supposed to include “lechi:” markers on 47 utility poles.

EEEA has said that revealing the location of any of the markers might lead to someone removing one. An eruv is invalid if there is any flaw in the entire system.