A historic North Shore Shabbat corridor
An eruv is a halachic boundary that lets observant Jews carry, push strollers, and walk freely on Shabbat — turning a city block into an extension of the home. The Evanston Eruv unites West Rogers Park, Skokie, and Evanston into one corridor for the first time.
In loving memory
לעילוי נשמת הרב משה בן ישראל אספורמס ז״ל
Rabbi Esformes devoted his life to Jewish education and communal strength — a generous benefactor of synagogues and educational institutions throughout the Chicago area. The Evanston Eruv is dedicated in his memory by his family, creating a living legacy that will enable thousands of Jews to observe Shabbat more fully for generations to come.
L'iluy nishmas HaRav Moshe ben Yisroel Esformes z"l
On the lakefront
From West Rogers Park through Skokie and into Evanston — one unbroken eruv, for the first time.
A 30-second primer
In Jewish law, the home is the only place an observant Jew may carry on Shabbat. An eruv is a continuous boundary — typically wires connecting existing utility poles — that halachically extends the home to encompass an entire neighborhood. Inside the eruv, families can carry house keys, push strollers, walk with toddlers, bring food to neighbors, and visit each other's homes on Shabbat. Outside, they cannot. An eruv is what makes a frum community physically possible.
What this unlocks
Click a region on the map to see the shuls, homes, and parks that come within reach.
Make it personal
Enter any address — your home, your parents', a child's apartment near Northwestern, or someone you're giving in memory of. Watch your walking world physically grow.
An eruv is fundamentally a radius. What can you carry? Where can your stroller go? Whose home can your family walk to on Shabbat?
Why this matters
The Eruv lets families walk on Shabbat to NorthShore Evanston Hospital and Saint Francis Hospital carrying food, supplies, gifts, and comfort items — to visit new mothers, newborns in the NICU, the sick, and the elderly. Every Shabbat, somebody's family needs to be there.
An academic anchor
The Eruv covers the entire Northwestern campus — undergraduate, graduate, and the Kellogg School of Management. With 1,200–1,600 Jewish students already on campus, a full Eruv attracts more observant students to Northwestern, makes Shabbat fully observable on campus, and connects the next generation of Jewish leaders to Chicago's vibrant Jewish community.
Why this is real
Evanston City Council
Resolution 5-R-25 unanimously passed on February 24, 2025. The City of Evanston pays nothing — the project is fully privately funded, and Evanston Eruv, Inc. covers all ongoing maintenance.
Resolution 5-R-25 · February 24, 2025
One crew · three eruvim
The Evanston eruv is being constructed and certified by the rabbinic and engineering team responsible for the West Rogers Park and Skokie eruvim. Every weekly check, every storm, every repair — the same crew, for decades.
Privately funded
All construction and maintenance is privately funded.
The campaign
Every gift goes directly toward building and maintaining the eruv — permits, poles, wires, labor, and the insurance that keeps it certified week after week.
Construction timeline
Sample costs
Every dollar goes to construction or operations — poles, wires, permits, labor, insurance.
Covers the annual insurance premium that keeps the eruv certified and protected — a recurring expense, every single year.
Give $1,800Pays for one custom-spec pole, fabrication, and installation. Each pole is engineered to local utility codes and rabbinic standards.
Give $5KMaterials and labor for a complete block of eruv coverage — wires, brackets, anchors, certification.
Give $18KInsurance, maintenance, and labor for a full year. The eruv is checked every Friday, every season, in every weather.
Give $54KThe single most complex span: 350 feet of specialized poles, every permit, the full assembly across the rail line. The keystone of the entire corridor.
Give $140KWhatever you can give — every gift threads the corridor. $18 buys a foot of wire. $36 buys an hour of labor.
Give what you canMake a gift
Tax-deductible. Make checks payable to Evanston Eruv, Inc.
Donations process via TheChesedFund. Tax receipts emailed automatically.