Rabbi Yoel Kahn's Statement Concerning the Rebbe and Eruvin in Large Cities
Rabbi Yoel Kahn wrote that the Rebbe's published correspondence made his position on constructing and relying on public eruvin in large cities clear.
The published letters give clear practical direction
Rabbi Yoel Kahn was the Rebbe's principal chozer and a leading editor of his Torah. In his signed letter of Bein Hametzarim 5776, he writes that the Rebbe's published correspondence makes his position on public eruvin in large cities clear.
The letters cannot be read as general encouragement to announce a city eruv. Rabbi Kahn understands them as opposition to creating public reliance where serious halachic objections remain.
Publicity changes the conduct of a city
Once an eruv is advertised, people carry because they trust the announcement. Most will never study the route, examine its openings, learn the conditions on which it was permitted, or know when it has failed.
Rabbi Kahn places this practical danger at the center of the Rebbe's position. A private technical proposal becomes a communal matter as soon as it is presented to the public as permission.
Read Rabbi Kahn's words
The complete Hebrew letter is available here with Rabbi Kahn's handwritten signature. It belongs together with the Rebbe's Manhattan and Melbourne correspondence and with the direct Crown Heights testimony of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner.
For Crown Heights, the neighborhood Beis Din supplies the final practical psak: the advertised eruv may not be relied upon and carrying is forbidden.