New York City synagogue 770 tunnel incident | |
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![]() Entrance to 770 synagogue, during the closure after tunnel incident | |
Date | January 8, 2024 |
Location | |
Casualties | |
Arrested | 12 |
On January 8, 2024, clashes broke out at the World Headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, a synagogue located at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, as construction workers, on behalf of the synagogue's leaders, attempted to fill in a tunnel that students had illegally dug beneath the building. The New York City Police Department was called to intervene and arrested twelve people.
The World Headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement are located at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and is often simply referred to as 770. [1] The synagogue, located under 784 and 788 Eastern Parkway, has been subject to a dispute between the Agudas Chasidei Chabad (the umbrella organization for the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch movement) and the Gabbaim, who are associated with Messianic Chasidim and control day-to-day operations of the main synagogue. [2] Chabad messianists, in contrast to the beliefs of members of the mainstream Chabad organization, believe that the deceased Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the Jewish Messiah and that he taught that 770 needed to be expanded. [3] [4] Though a court ruling in 2006 decided that full ownership of 770 belongs to Agudas Chasidei Chabad, ongoing legal disputes have prevented either party from altering the structure. [5]
A grassroots campaign to enlarge the synagogue, called "Expand 770", was launched in 2022. The campaign aimed to rally support for the synagogue expansion. The campaign founder stated that there is a “need and duty to expand and broaden” the synagogue due to lack of space. [6]
The New York City Fire Department reported that in mid-December 2023 they had been anonymously informed about a tunnel under the building and had responded to inspect it on December 20, but the tunnel was not detected. [7] The existence of the tunnel was first publicly reported on by local media on December 22. [8]
The tunnel was constructed by yeshiva students. The purpose of the tunnel was to begin illegally expanding 770, a process that has been delayed due to various legal disputes involving the building. [1] Two yeshiva students involved with the creation of the tunnel spoke with The Forward , claiming that they were "taking initiative on a long-deferred synagogue expansion." [3]
A New York City Department of Buildings investigation in January determined that the tunnel was "illegally excavated" and connected four neighboring buildings: 784 and 786 Eastern Parkway, 302 Kingston Avenue and the extension behind 1457 Union Street. The tunnel was approximately 60 ft (18 m) long, 8 ft (2.4 m) wide, and 5 ft (1.5 m) tall, with inadequate shoring. [9] [10] A full vacate order was issued for the abandoned men's mikvah at 302 Kingston Avenue due to foundation damage. [9] [11]
After the discovery of the tunnel, the gabbaim called in construction crews to fill the tunnel with concrete. [2]
On the afternoon of January 8, 2024, a group of yeshiva students, reported to be Chabad messianics, attempted to protect the hidden passageways after a cement truck arrived to fill the tunnel. [2] The men were seen tearing up wood paneling and throwing wooden pews while several of the men ran into the tunnel to stop it from being filled. [12] The New York City Police Department responded after reports of a “disorderly group” outside the building. [13]
Many refused to come out of the tunnel, and as a result, the New York City Police Department arrested nine people. [14] Those arrested were between the ages of 19 and 22. [7] Of those arrested, five men were later arraigned in front of a Brooklyn judge on charges including criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and obstructing governmental administration. The five men, who were described by their lawyer as being Israeli citizens studying to become rabbis, all pleaded not guilty and were released without bail until a future court date. Seven other individuals were given summonses on lesser charges. [4] In April 2024, thirteen men were arraigned on charges relating to the incident. [15]
Rabbi Motti Seligson, Chabad's media director, said in a statement that the incident was "deeply distressing to the Lubavitch movement, and the Jewish community worldwide." Seligson also characterized those that had created the tunnel as a "group of extremist students." [7] Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, chairman of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, released a statement thanking the NYPD and stating that the actions of the students "will be investigated, and the sanctity of the synagogue will be restored." [6] The building was temporarily closed, pending a structural safety review. [16] The tunnel was infilled with concrete on January 10. [9] [17]
Residents of Crown Heights had varying responses to the incident with some concerned about those involved disrupting the sanctity of the site and highlighting the activities on a fringe group of individuals. Others connected with the reported expansion efforts of the group stating that the site visitors had outgrown its capacity and there needed to be an expansion on the property. [18]
Footage of the January 8 incident and tunnel went viral, especially on Twitter. [19] In other forums such as 4chan and QAnon Telegram pages, stills taken from videos of the synagogue's interior as well as the room leading to the tunnel, which showed a stained mattress and high chair, respectively, fueled antisemitic conspiracy theories. [20] [21] [22] The claims fueling the antisemitic conspiracy theories turned out to be false. [23]
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch, is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of the largest Jewish religious organizations. Unlike most Haredi groups, which are self-segregating, Chabad mainly operates in the wider world and caters to nonobservant Jews.
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard/East New York Avenue to the south. It is about one mile (1.6 km) wide and two miles (3.2 km) long. Neighborhoods bordering Crown Heights include Prospect Heights to the west, Flatbush and Prospect Lefferts Gardens to the south, Brownsville to the east, and Bedford–Stuyvesant to the north.
770 Eastern Parkway, also known as "770", is the street address of the World Headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, located on Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The building is the center of the Chabad-Lubavitch world movement and considered by many to be an iconic site in Judaism.
Tomchei Tmimim is the central Yeshiva of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. Founded in 1897 in the town of Lubavitch by Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, it is now an international network of institutions of advanced Torah study, the United Lubavitcher Yeshivoth.
Hadar Hatorah is a Chabad men's yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York. It is the world's first yeshiva for baalei teshuva.
Oholei Torah is the common name of the Lubavitch schools Educational Institute Oholei Menachem and Talmudical Seminary Oholei Torah. The main branches of the school and its administrative offices are located in Brooklyn, New York City.
On March 1, 1994, Lebanese-born Rashid Baz shot at a van of 15 Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish students who were traveling on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, killing one and injuring three others. Initially a road rage incident, in 2005, this shooting was reclassified as a terrorist attack.
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The Yeshivah Centre is an Orthodox Jewish umbrella organisation in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, that serves the needs of the Melbourne Jewish community. It is run by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, until recently, under the direct administration of Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner. Rabbi Zvi Telsner has been brought as the new Dayan of the Centre and Lubavitch community.
Yehuda Leib "Leibel" Groner was an American Hasidic Jewish teacher, scholar, and author. He is best known for having served as the personal secretary to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, for 40 years.
Yoel Kahan was a senior Chabad rabbi who worked for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Rabbi Shimon Lazaroff is the current Texas Regional Director for Texas Friends of Chabad Lubavitch, Inc. and member of the board and executive committee of Agudas Chasidei Chabad. With the direction of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, he established Chabad Lubavitch in Texas upon his arrival with his family in 1972.
Hanoch Hecht, also known as the 6 Minute Rabbi, is the spiritual leader of the Rhinebeck Jewish in Rhinebeck, NY and director of Chabad of Dutchess County. He is the son of Shea Hecht and the grandson of the late Jacob J. Hecht.
The Jewish Children's Museum is a Jewish-themed children's museum at 792 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York, U.S. It aims for children of all faiths and backgrounds to gain a positive perspective and awareness of the Jewish heritage, fostering tolerance and understanding. The permanent collection features exhibits designed to be both educational and entertaining to children, often employing interactive multimedia. At the miniature golf course on the roof, for example, each hole represents a stage in Jewish life.
Chabad affiliated organizations and institutions number in the thousands. Chabad is a Hasidic movement, a branch of Orthodox Judaism. The organizations and institutions associated with the movement provide social, educational and religious services to Jews around the globe.
The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) is a division of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. It offers adult Jewish courses on Jewish history, law, ethics, philosophy and rabbinical literature worldwide. It also develops Jewish studies curricula specifically for women, college students, teenagers, and seniors.
Yisroel Jacobson (1895-1975) was a Chabad Hasidic rabbi and the representative of the sixth Chabad rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, to the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. He was one of the first Lubavitcher activists to arrive in to the United States. He was born in Russia and migrated to the United States in 1925.
Yosef Yitzchak "Yossi" Jacobson, also known as YY Jacobson, is an American Chabad rabbi and speaker from Monsey, New York.
Yaacov Behrman is an American rabbi, the Director of Operation Survival, a project of the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education (N.C.F.J.E), and a liaison for Chabad Headquarters. Behrman is also the founder of the Jewish Future Alliance, and a member of Community Board 9. In 2021, Mayor Eric Adams named Behrman to his mayoral transition team, and in 2023, to the mayor's Jewish advisory committee.