> This thread conceptually turns public space into private domain, and allows observers of the Sabbath to carry their essential belongings with them.
https://99percentinvisible.org/article/inside-lines-eruv-wir...
[1] https://www.npr.org/2019/05/13/721551785/a-fishing-line-enci... [2] https://twitter.com/ManhattanEruv/status/1388202630048993281
The biggest issue I see is about the cable length: you would need to use high voltages to make up for the losses and fault location would become way more difficult. Another option would be break up the cable in smaller sections and monitor each of these independently, but I don't know if that's a valid option for this use case since the entire point of the eruv is that it must be continuous (maybe the sections could be tied together using non-conductive materials?)
I guess if you add a Rube Goldberg machine to your electronics, it's ok.
My favorite was when I visited some family members that lived in a area with many devout Jewish people. The building they lived in didn't have elevators with a Sabbath mode, and when I entered the elevator, an elderly woman who had been waiting entered with me and mumbled "I live on floor 12". I pressed the button for her, but it was only later that I realized she was waiting for someone to do the work for her without specifically instructing them to do the work because of the day. So odd.
Then again people are free to live by whatever self-imposed rules they desire, as silly as it looks to someone else.
If someone is wearing a tinfoil hat, his lengthy explanations about the capabilities of American and Russian intelligence agencies capabilities doesn’t make it sound less dumb.
Yes...? When the time comes I'll not spend money which could otherwise buy several unforgettable vacation trips on a shiny overpriced rock, due to cultural pressure.
Now if we're talking about illegal eruvs (eruvim) such as steel cables or chains at ground-level that have killed motorcyclists in the past...I obviously think that's a good thing...
As to the curious case of the eruv: The fundamental laws of Sabbath observance are mandated by the Bible, but the specifics of forbidden activities have been refined by rabbinic discussion over hundreds of years. These are documented in the Mishna, the Talmud, and many other sources continuing to the current era. It would be more accurate to view the eruv as a technical way to enclose a shared communal area. This has always been built into the technical determination of domains as set by rabbanic authorities, and functions more as a constant reminder of Sabbath than as a "loophole".
Anyone who observes Shabbat would never confuse it for a regular weekday, even with an eruv and light timers.