The practice of eruv, a symbolic extension of the residences of Hasidic Jews so they can go outside the home on the Sabbath, is at the heart of a controversy in the Montreal neighbourhood of Outremont.
MONTREAL - A dispute over barely visible fishing line that Orthodox Jews say is vital to the practice of their religion landed in court yesterday as the city of Outremont argued it cannot allow the six-metre-high filament to cross public land.
Julius Grey, the lawyer representing five Hasidic Jews in the case, said his clients' right to freedom of religion, guaranteed under the Quebec and Canadian charters of rights, is regularly violated when municipal workers cut down the string, known as an eruv.
Eruv is a custom practised for thousands of years, according to documents filed in support of the court action.
What began as a Biblical edict forbidding any labour on the Sabbath was later elaborated to include carrying an object between an enclosed area and an open area. The eruv, then, creates a symbolic enclosure allowing strict observers of the Sabbath to lift and push things within the area.
For example, mothers can push strollers and old men can walk with canes within the eruv. Mr. Grey said he is seeking a court order to allow Orthodox Jews to string an eruv between their properties. It would not touch any other private properties and would only cross city air, he said.
"There is no evidence of harm. What you've got here is evidence that some people don't like it," he told Justice Allan Hilton of Quebec Superior Court.
Eruvs are allowed in Montreal and several suburbs, in Toronto and in many large cities in the United States.
But Outremont, an expensive enclave and home to many members of Quebec's political and business elite, has resisted the practice, saying public property cannot be designated for the use of a particular group.
Yvon Denault, the city's lawyer, said Orthodox Jews are able to practise their religion in their homes and do not need use of the streets as well.
"They are not at all prevented from practising their religion," he said outside the court.
"The best evidence of that is they all live in Outremont and I presume all of them are practising their religion. It is my contention that it is not something that is essential to the practise of their religion."
A secular group called the Mouvement Laïque du Québec has intervened in the case, opposing the eruv on the grounds that it runs counter to the separation of church and state.
Daniel Baril, the group's president and a former Outremont resident, said he would not want to live in a neighbourhood with an eruv if he moved back to Outremont.
"You cannot ignore it," Mr. Baril said. "People know it's there. They can't pretend it isn't."
He said public space must be kept clear of all religious symbols in order to guarantee everyone's freedom of religion. An eruv, he said, amounts to privatizing public space because the Hasidim consider the enclosed space their own.
Mr. Baril offered the analogy of homosexuals deciding to string a rainbow banner around Montreal's Gay Village. "It might be beautiful, but people who were not gay would not appreciate it," he said.
Alex Werzberger, one of the plaintiffs in the case and president of the Coalition of Outremont Hasidic Organizations, said the complaints about the eruv are thinly veiled xenophobia.
"You want to put your finger on it? They don't like us," he said outside the court. "It's a turf war. Our community is growing by leaps and bounds, by about 5% a year. We're the local niggers."
He said he is offended when he hears people suggesting that his people should change their religious laws. "This is the way we want to run our religion. You don't tell us how to run our religion."
But Céline Forget, a municipal councillor and one of the most vocal opponents of the eruv, said the string in front of her home is "a constant reminder of a religious boundary across public space. Against my will, because of the location of my apartment, I find myself living in a territory identified with a religion that is not my own," she said.
Gisèle Lafortune, another Outremont resident who attended yesterday's hearing, said she feels excluded by the presence of an eruv.
"I love everybody. I adore eating Jewish food. I love matzo," she said in an interview. "But I want to live in peace."