Within an eruv, you can carry outside your home in the same way as you can in your own house and garden. All other shabbat restrictions are unaffected.

You may:

Carry house keys, food or drink for use on shabbat, tallit, books (e.g. chumash or siddur), required medication, clothes, (e.g. coat, gloves or handkerchief), reading glasses, push a baby buggy, pram or wheelchair.

You may not:

Carry a mobile phone or other items which are muktseh (forbidden to be moved on shabbat), carry anything which is to be used only after shabbat. Carry or open an umbrella. Engage in weekday activities which are not in the spirit of shabbat such as riding a bike, or going shopping (even on credit or where payment is not involved).

If you are unsure whether a particular activity is permitted, please consult your rabbi.

What is an Eruv?
Shabbat is a day set apart by Jewish law from the working week. Family time and spiritual pursuits are emphasised and weekday activities associated with work are prohibited.

Our Jewish religious code spells out the shabbat restrictions. For example, carrying and pushing wheelchairs, prams and baby buggies are only permitted in homes, private gardens and community areas. An eruv is a boundary recognised by Jewish law, within which these activities are permitted.

There are well over 200 eruvim in communities throughout the world and many more in Israel. Most major Jewish communities in North America have one, as do the communities in Antwerp, Gibraltar, Strasbourg, Venice, Johannesburg, Melbourne and Sydney.

Why an Eruv?
An eruv makes shabbat observance more pleasant in many ways. The Stanmore and Canons Park Eruv will enable the whole community living in the area to enjoy shabbat to the full.

Eruvim are especially helpful to families with young children who want to use a pram or baby buggy outside their home on shabbat and to people who use a wheelchair or walking frame. Others will find it useful to be able to carry house keys, reading glasses or books to a shiur.

Before the eruv, families with young children were home-bound each shabbat. Many couples who had children too young to walk to synagogue could not attend a shabbat service together, nor a kiddush or simcha. Grandparents are now able to host their younger grandchildren on shabbat. Shabbat events are available to all families - young and old, mobile and less mobile. Everyone can now join in the shabbat religious and social life of the community.