Eruvs launch for St John’s Wood and South Hampstead

Dayan Binstock said: 'Given the limitations Covid-19 is placing on community life at this time, the benefit of an Eruv to enhance the Shabbat experience is especially appreciated'

After more than a decade of planning, the St John’s Wood and South Hampstead eruvs launch last Shabbat.

Jointly covering an area from Maida Vale in the west to Kentish Town in the east, project leaders say the eruvim will be the first in the world to use bespoke tapered poles to blend into the landscape.

Although the area does not include Regents Park, the eruv incorporates Primrose Hill Park, allowing for community and family activities to take place.

The eruvs – the first to take in Central London – connect to the recently launched Brondesbury Park eruv and the north west London eruv, allowing Shabbat observers to walk and carry to neighbourhoods throughout north west London, as far as Belmont and Barnet.

The Senior Rabbi of St John’s Wood Synagogue, Dayan Binstock, said he was “thrilled” at the project’s completion. “Given the limitations that Covid-19 is placing on community life at this time, the benefit of an Eruv to enhance the Shabbat experience is especially appreciated”, he said.

Rabbi Shlomo Levin, Senior Rabbi of South Hampstead Synagogue, said that he was also “delighted” that the project had been completed, after it was first approved in 2017 and 2018. He added, “the eruv will be of immense benefit to many members of our communities, particularly young mothers, the elderly, wheelchair bound and the disabled, many of whom have felt isolated during this Covid period.