"Is the Eruv Down?"

This morning, walking to shul on Peninsula Boulevard, a major thoroughfare, I saw two different men wearing their taleisim to shul.

This is one of my many pet peeves. We have an eruv in the Five Towns that is universally accepted. In fact, it is supervised by one of the more right wing institutions in the community. There is no reason to wear a talis to shul.

We are not in Israel, nor in a "yeshiva town". It is simply not tzanuah. (Even Rabbi Frand agrees with me, in a shiur I heard some years ago).

In any event, both Talis Men turned onto Woodmere Boulevard. I was right behind one of them when he was stopped by an old-timer on his way to (a different) shul.

The Old-Timer asked: "Is the eruv down?"

Talis Man: "Not that I know of. Why do you ask?"

Old Timer: "I see you are wearing your talis."

Talis Man: "Uh. I always wear my talis."

I'm still not sure whether Talis Man understands that Old-Timer was, as Beaver Cleaver might have said, "giving him the business".