The leader of Hale’s Jewish community has pledged to take the plans for a 12-mile eruv “back to the drawing board” after a tumultuous public meeting last night.
Over 300 people, far more than the expected number, attended a two-and-a-half-hour meeting at the Marriott Hotel on Hale Road which had been organised as part of a consultation process with local residents ahead of a formal planning application.
We revealed last week how the Jewish community is looking to build an eruv – a continuous boundary – around Hale and Hale Barns to allow the free movement of Orthodox Jews on the Sabbath day. Jewish Law prohibits Orthodox Jews from carrying on the Sabbath, precluding such activities as pushing wheelchairs and pushchairs.
And tensions in the room ran high almost immediately last night as a planned presentation by Abraham Wahnon, the eruv’s programme manager, had to be shelved after only five minutes when attendees demanded he answered their questions instead.
Hertfordshire-based Wahnon, who said he had “successfully delivered” three other eruvin around the country, faced considerable criticism from locals angry at proposals to install over 100 poles along the eruv boundary.
Below: The map of the planned eruv
Although the majority of the boundary will be formed by “utilising continuous local features” that already exist, the plans also require the installation of man-made objects including 85 six-metre poles, 32 four-metre poles and 700–800m of one-metre-tall fencing.
Wahnon was soon joined by Rabbi Joel Portnoy, the leader of the Hale Synagogue on Shay Lane, and Rabbi Yehuda Brodie, clerk to the court of the Manchester Beth Din who had been instrumental in the development of an eruv in north Manchester.
And together they faced an audience that included a broad spectrum of the local community, with those speaking during the meeting including local residents, representatives of many faiths, Councillor Dylan Butt of the Hale Barns ward and Rev Roger Clarke, the vicar of All Saints Church.
Chief among the concerns was the impact the man-made poles would have on the appearance of the Hale area, and many at the meeting also suggested that a boundary like the proposed eruv would lead to a sense of segregation and the potential for a deterioration of relations in a community that has historically integrated well.
One attendee said: “What makes me sad is that you’re segregating your group from the rest of society. We have had a wonderful community for many years and what you are trying to do is segregate.”
Another said: “We’re living in the 21st century, what’s wrong with a virtual boundary?” Rabbi Portnoy replied that his community was “governed by a code of Jewish law that doesn’t allow for something imaginary. We’re working within the leniency of the letter of the law”.
Below: The packed public meeting at the Marriott Hotel in Hale
But another attendee, who described himself as a “secular Jew”, said: “I am sure this respected Rabbi has it within his gift to ensure you can push a chair and carry a book on the Sabbath.”
After a lengthy question and answer session that Rabbi Portnoy described as “hostile”, he said: “I can hear loud and clear that the overwhelming view in the room is that you don’t want an eruv.
“What we have heard tonight has had a significant impact. I am hearing tremendous upset and anger and we need to take that back to the drawing board.”
Asked to clarify what that could entail, Rabbi Portnoy added: “We need to turn it into a proper consultation and open it up to the wider community of Trafford before one could even dream of taking this planning application forward.”
Further details about the eruv can be found on the Hale Eruv website.
