Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner's Statement Concerning the Rebbe and a Crown Heights Eruv
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner wrote that the Rebbe strongly opposed an eruv in Crown Heights and that no one had permission to make one for the neighborhood.
The Rebbe opposed an eruv in Crown Heights
Rabbi Groner, who served for decades as one of the Rebbe's mazkirim, wrote that the Rebbe strongly opposed making an eruv in Crown Heights. He conveys the Rebbe's words: “I will not permit an eruv to be made here in the neighborhood.”
He adds that no person had received permission to establish one. The statement concerns the neighborhood directly and answers the suggestion that a private group could proceed without the agreement of the Rebbe or the local Rabbonim.
The Melbourne episode
Rabbi Groner also recounts the question brought to the Rebbe concerning a proposed eruv in Melbourne. There, the Rebbe called for qualified local Rabbonim to investigate the matter thoroughly and warned against public action that could cause people to carry.
Melbourne and Crown Heights are not physically identical. Rabbi Groner uses the episode to show the care the Rebbe required before any city eruv could become a public practice.
The local psak
Rabbi Groner's testimony accompanies a direct halachic ruling from the Crown Heights Beis Din. The neighborhood Rabbonim prohibited carrying and stated that the publicized eruv was to be treated as nonexistent.
The Rebbe's opposition and the Beis Din's psak therefore point to the same conduct: Crown Heights must be observed without relying on the advertised eruv.