Posek and member of Agudath HaRabbonim
Rabbi Chaim Bick and the 1962 Manhattan Eruv Ruling
Rabbi Chaim Bick was one of the important halachic voices in the Manhattan eruv record and is associated with the public ruling against reliance on the proposal.
The Manhattan ruling
Rabbi Chaim Bick was one of the five leading Rabbonim named on the Agudath HaRabbonim ruling of 18 Sivan 5722. Their conclusion was practical and unambiguous: the Manhattan eruv could not be relied upon, and the public was not to carry on its strength.
As a recognized posek and member of the Agudath HaRabbonim, Rabbi Bick belonged to the body that assumed responsibility for addressing a proposal affecting an entire city. The ruling was issued when competing public messages had made a clear rabbinic instruction necessary.
The large-city questions
A metropolitan eruv must address the status of the city streets, the volume of public movement, large openings in the route, and the legal and communal arrangements required by halacha. Manhattan also presented unusual arguments based on shorelines, retaining walls, bridges, tunnels, and former gates.
Despite those possible enclosures, the Rabbonim did not permit reliance on the project. The decision became a reference point when similar proposals were advanced elsewhere in New York.
From Manhattan to Brooklyn
Later Brooklyn discussions did not begin on a blank page. They followed the Manhattan ruling and Rav Moshe's continuing responsa on large-city eruvin.
The Crown Heights Beis Din applied that background to the neighborhood and issued its own direct prohibition. Rabbi Bick's role belongs to the earlier public ruling that helped establish the large-city framework.