Institutionalized Experiment: The Politics of ?Jewish Architecture? in Germany

Abstract

he eruv, both as a concept and as a pragmatic tool within everydayJewish life, can be seen as the typical architectonic and urbanistic response to the condition of diaspora. Germany represents perhaps the diasporic condition par excellence. One would therefore expect the installment of eruvin to be a recurring feature of urban life. However, no eruv currently exists in Germany, and the physical presence of Jewry in that country follows an ideology that is, surprisingly, opposed to that of the eruv, a presence that can be described as anti-eruv and maybe anti-diasporic. Abstracted from its religious context and analyzed in terms of its urban strategy, the eruv stands for the creation of a specific urban realm that nevertheless remains accessible to all groups of society and open to all uses. Two main characteristics of the eruv with respect to its urban methodology are the addition of multiple layers of meaning to the urban realm and a strategic approach of many small-scale interventions to affect a large area. Illustrating these characteristics, the recently installed eruv in Northwest London required only the construction of approximately 30 poles connected by nylon wire to complete the enclosure of an area of six and a half square miles.' The measurements of these fixtures, conceived of as gates by the rabbis, as defined in the