Rishon LeTzion and Chief Rabbi of Israel
Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu's Discussion With the Rebbe About Yerushalayim and Eruvin
Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu is the principal speaker in the eruv portion of the recorded meeting with Israel's Chief Rabbis on 26 Adar II 5746.
The Old City and Yerushalayim
During the meeting, Rabbi Eliyahu discussed the eruv in Yerushalayim, the communal acquisition used for it, and the walls of the Old City. The conversation then moved to the physical form of the newer city and to the status of its streets.
This is a substantive halachic exchange between the Rebbe and the Rishon LeTzion. It should be heard in its own Yerushalayim setting rather than detached into a slogan about a different city.
Shishim ribo and reshus harabim
Rabbi Eliyahu explains his own position that a reshus harabim does not require six hundred thousand people and adds that, according to his approach, there is no full reshus harabim in the present day. The discussion shows how the conditions of reshus harabim can be understood differently by major poskim.
That disagreement is one reason a city eruv cannot be judged through a single number alone. Population, street form, whether a road is mefulash, and the applicable halachic standard must all be considered together.
The streets of the newer city
Rabbi Eliyahu notes that the streets of the newer city are not straight. The Rebbe interjects lo mefulash—they do not run straight through—supporting the favorable feature then under discussion.
The exchange concerns Yerushalayim, including the Old City and the newer city. It supplies a valuable recorded discussion of urban eruv principles, while the direct practical ruling for Crown Heights comes from its own Beis Din.