"Trying to cheat God": The animation video about the Eruv in Manhattan that stirred the web
A new animation video by content creator Zack D. Films explained to millions of followers how the Halachic Eruv works in Manhattan. The popular documentation sparked a huge wave of questions, mockery of Jewish law, and even explicit antisemitic responses and calls to damage the wire.
An animation video that popular content creator Zack D. Films uploaded this past weekend explained to millions of users what an Eruv Shabbat is, and brought about a wave of stormy reactions, questions about Jewish law, and alongside them, explicit antisemitic responses.
In the video, accompanied by dynamic 3D animation, it is explained how a special wire is stretched across Manhattan in New York. The wire, which surrounds large parts of the city, turns the public space into a kind of one large "private domain" from a Halachic perspective. The creator details how this solution allows observant Jews to carry objects on Shabbat — such as keys, for example, something that would have been forbidden according to Halacha without the Eruv.
The video also emphasizes the tight supervision, which includes rabbis and special teams that patrol along the route every Friday to ensure that the wire is not torn.
The video received millions of views and thousands of comments, but it seems that many users around the world found it difficult to understand the Halachic logic behind the custom.
Among the most popular comments, questions and bewilderment stood out from users who claimed that this is an attempt to bypass divine law:
"Why are they trying to beat God based on small clauses?", wrote one of the commenters in a response that received tens of thousands of likes.
"Oh yes, outsmarting a divine entity", mocked another commenter.
"This is so stupid, why set rules if you are going to use loopholes?", added another user.
Alongside the innocent questions and humor, explicit manifestations of antisemitism and calls to damage the Eruv appeared in the comments. Among other things, comments were written such as "cut the wire", and users asked what would happen if they cut the wire in the middle of Shabbat. Israeli and Jewish users who encountered the video expressed resentment at the amount of negative comments and hatred that flooded the post.
The custom of the Eruv (Eruv Chatzerot) is an ancient Halachic solution originating from the era of the Sages, whose purpose is to allow Shabbat observers to carry objects from a private domain to a public domain. In modern Eruv systems, like the one existing in Manhattan and in most cities and settlements in Israel, poles and stretched wires are used that surround the city and create a structure defined as an opening, thereby giving the entire area a Halachic status that allows carrying on Shabbat.
