HALE residents are invited to attend a public meeting this weekend about proposals to create a Jewish eruv in the village.

An eruv is a ‘boundary’ around a town or district that allow the Jewish community to carry objects on the Jewish Sabbath by denoting the area of the eruv as a single unified domain for the purposes of Jewish rabbinic observance.

As opposed to ancient times, when a walled city or neighbourhood could be considered as one domain, modern eruvs often utilise poles, fencing and fine wire strung between poles to fill any gaps and denote the extremities of the single area.

A proposed planning application for Hale – as outlined by the haleeruv.org website – signals the intention to install 85 6 metres tall poles, 32 4m tall poles, two 3m tall wooden poles and tie bar, up to 800mof 1 metre tall fencing or fencing repairs and one footpath gate.

The project, if given planning permission, will establish a 12-mile eruv boundary. It would be the ninth eruv in the UK and second in Manchester behind one in Prestwich.

A spokesman on haleeruv.org writes: “All works have been designed to allow free movement of all traffic and have been positioned have the smallest possible visual effect. The wires are very fine thread designed to fail in a safe manner if struck by any vehicle.

“Experience has shown that, once in place, the eruv will go almost totally unnoticed by residents except members of the Jewish community for whom this facility is an important issue.

“All of these works and activities are funded from charitable funds within the Jewish community and no request is made of public funds to provide this facility for the Jewish community.”

Residents are invited to attend a public meeting about the proposals at 8pm this Sunday, November 30 in the Manchester Airport Marriott Hotel, Hale Road, WA15 8XW.

It will feature a presentation explaining the eruv and other developments to be included in a future planning application.

A spokesman for the Hale eruv said: “All the community is invited to attend the public meeting to find out more about the proposals.

“The meeting will feature time for people to ask questions about the proposal and to take part in discussions.”

For further information about the eruv, visit haleeruv.org or info@haleeurv.org