This Thursday after sundown, the streets of West Rogers Park will be perfumed with the aroma of hot oil.
Nowadays West Rogers Park’s strict Orthodox community is primarily located between Peterson Avenue and Howard Street, and concentrated west of California Avenue. That boundary gave its name to native son Adam Langer‘s 2004 memoir Crossing California.
The CDOT staffers were fuzzy on exactly who requested the arch, as well as the function of the eruv, so I reached out to Silverstein for more info. The alderman is Orthodox herself, although not strictly so—she avoids driving on Shabbat, which is prohibited, but wears typical street clothes. She said a member of the West Rogers Park Eruv committee met with CDOT to discuss how to incorporate the bridge into the ritual enclosure.
Strict Orthodox females typically wear long dresses, keep their shoulders and arms covered, and avoid necklines that drop below the collarbone. Married women are supposed to conceal their hair, although some accomplish this by wearing wigs, Reiss said.
On the other hand, muktzeh, items that can’t be carried on Shabbos, even within one’s home, include money, wallets, purses, phones, writing implements, office keys, and other objects associated with commerce or labor. Even umbrellas are forbidden, which must make walking to synagogue a challenge when there’s a downpour.
After Alderman Silverstein rebooted the initiative years later, Matanky met with CDOT architects and engineers to request an eruv-friendly design. “I think we came up with something aesthetically very nice, so everybody came out a winner.”
