It amazes me that kashrus mashgichim are often expected to oversee eiruvin
Nonetheless, this arrangement frequently occurs at hotel programs. Pesach programs, mid-winter programs, conventions, and other shabbaton-type gatherings rent hotels, kasher the kitchens, and build an eiruv for the duration of the program. Almost always, it’s the rabbis on the kashrus team who are tasked with building the eiruv.
Occasionally, they consult with me, usually sending me a picture or two of the section in question, which makes me nervous because I haven’t seen the rest of the eiruv. Seeing the entire eiruv is the only way to know if a kosher eiruv has indeed been constructed. After all, a 99 percent kosher eiruv is not kosher at all.
Rabbi Simon called me in February. He would be overseeing the kashrus at the Sandy Beach Pesach Hotel in Sandy Beach, South Carolina. And, he was also overseeing construction of the Sandy Beach Hotel’s Pesach eiruv. Normally, Rabbi Simon told me, he would simply encircle the hotel property with plastic conduit poles and fishing wire and the eiruv would presumably be good to go. But in this case, the catering company was storing food in an offsite location, across a busy street from the hotel. In order to transport the food from the warehouse to the hotel on Shabbos, the eiruv would have to cross Welmar Avenue and attach to the warehouse. Rabbi Simon felt this warranted a second opinion and made arrangements to fly me down to South Carolina to take over this aspect of the eiruv project.
“Don’t worry,” he said reassuringly. “The rest of the eiruv is under control. I do this every year. It’s just the one street crossing that has me a little nervous.”
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