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The Greenside Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Jonannesburg.
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JOHANNESBURG (AFP)---An Orthodox Jewish congregation in Johannesburg is at the centre of a controversy pitting religious tradition against security fears in one of the world's most crime-plagued cities.
The Greenside Hebrew Congregation has been erecting tall metal polls in several upscale residential neighborhoods to expand its "eruv", the symbolic enclosure within which observant Jews are allowed under Jewish law to push or carry things on the Sabbath.
But the 5.4-metre (17.7-foot) polls have caused controversy among residents who fear criminals will scale them to jump over walls and electric security fences, The Citizen newspaper reported Tuesday.
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"We have received a few complaints and have agreed to put barbed wire on top of one such pole to deter criminals," Congregation chairman Ari Ben-David said.
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"Criminals will work out in less than two seconds how to scale this pole and jump over the electric fences into properties," resident Sylvia Kugler told the paper.
“Here we are as a community doing everything possible to curb crime," she complained. "Obviously, no thought was given to security."
Congregation chairman Ari Ben-David said 108 poles are being erected to enable members to carry prayer books or push baby carriages to temple on the Jewish Sabbath, which lasts from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
Orthodox Jews are not allowed to carry anything outside their homes on the Sabbath, but the eruv is recognised under Jewish law as an extension of the home.
Resistance to the project in Johannesburg has taken a uniquely South African twist in a country with an average 50 killings a day.
"We have received a few complaints and have agreed to put barbed wire on top of one such pole to deter criminals," Ben-David said.