The Agudath HaRabbonim Rulings Concerning the Manhattan Eruv
Agudath HaRabbonim issued a public ruling against reliance on the Manhattan eruv and reaffirmed that position several years later.
The public ruling of 18 Sivan 5722
The Agudath HaRabbonim issued a public ruling that the Manhattan eruv could not be relied upon. Rav Aharon Kotler, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, Rav Gedalia Schorr, Rav Chaim Bick, and Rav Moshe Feinstein are named on the notice.
The ruling warned the public not to carry on the strength of the proposal. It answered a campaign for practical use with an equally public psak intended to reach ordinary residents.
The ruling was reaffirmed in 5726
The controversy continued after the first notice. On 23 Nisan 5726, following a Chol Hamoed Pesach meeting under Rav Moshe's leadership, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis reaffirmed the prohibition.
The HaPardes notice shows that the earlier psak had not lapsed and that renewed promotion of the eruv had not changed the Rabbonim's conclusion.
The Manhattan ruling became a large-city precedent
Later proclamations invoked the Manhattan decision when eruvin were proposed in Brooklyn and other large cities. Their language expressly rejected the idea that the prohibition concerned only one island.
That continuity is part of the background cited by the Crown Heights Rabbonim when they ruled on the neighborhood proposal.