In this response to some recent columns in our “Unpacking the Iggerot” series Benjamin Folkinshteyn questions the use of certain statistical data in determining halakhic realities as presented in R. Moshe Feinstein’s Iggerot Moshe.

The opposition to a Manhattan Eruv stands as one of R. Moshe Feinstein’s most prominent halakhic rulings, both for his idiosyncratic analysis as well as its wide ramifications for the many immigrant Orthodox Jews concentrated on the island, regardless of whether they belonged to the Hassidic, Yeshiva or Modern Orthodox world. Moshe Kurtz takes us through the highlights as well as the history of how R. Feinstein’s thinking on the issue developed over time.