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Edited by: TJVNews.com
A dramatic confrontation unfolded on Monday at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood as a group of Lubavitchers clashed with construction crews attempting to fill in a secret passageway discovered beneath the famed Chabad headquarters, as was reported by The Forward. The incident, marked by arrests and a standoff, is the latest chapter in a prolonged legal battle over control of the iconic building and raises questions about the mysterious tunnel’s purpose.
In December, the existence of a hidden tunnel beneath 770 Eastern Parkway came to light, reportedly dug by a small crew of Lubavitchers over several months or even years. According to the report on TheForward.com web site, the tunnel connected the synagogue to the defunct Chabad mikvah around the corner, but the motivations behind its creation remained unclear. The tunnel’s discovery triggered a series of events leading to the recent confrontation.
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Construction crews were called to fill in the tunnel, leading to a standoff between Chabad students, mostly in their teens and early twenties, and the workers. Videos circulating on Chabad community news sources and social media captured the scene as young men ripped down wood paneling to reveal a cavernous concrete space about 20 feet wide beneath the women’s section of the synagogue, according to the information provided in TheForward.com report. Some individuals were seen sitting or standing in the space, apparently attempting to prevent it from being filled.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) was called to the scene, and according to community news outlet CrownHeights.info, 10 arrests were made. The report on the Forward.com web site said that the video footage showed Lubavitcher men being led away with zip-tied wrists, highlighting the intensity of the clash. The reasons for the strong reaction from the Lubavitchers and their attempts to prevent the filling of the tunnel are yet to be fully understood. CrownHeights.info posted videos of the clash.
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The chaos at 770 Eastern Parkway is the culmination of a longstanding legal dispute between the Chabad-Lubavitch movement and the synagogue leadership for control of the iconic building. Despite owning the title, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement does not control 770 Eastern Parkway, as was noted in the report on TheFoward.com website. The legal wrangling between the movement and Beis Chayeinu, the Chabad synagogue that meets in the building, has persisted for decades.
The motivations behind the creation of the tunnel remain mysterious. Initial reports suggested a desire to “expand” 770, but the specific purpose of the tunnel and how it would achieve that goal remain murky. A video posted in December revealed a dark, dirt-walled crawl space allegedly starting from the former Chabad Women’s Mikvah, as was indicated in TheForward.com report. Large dirt mounds obstructed much of the basement, adding to the intrigue surrounding the underground passage.
Reports indicate that the students attempting to prevent the filling of the tunnel were mostly from Israel and associated with Chabad Messianism. Adherents of this belief system contend that Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, was the Messiah, a stance publicly disavowed by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, TheForward.com report said. The clash at 770 highlights internal divisions within the Chabad community.
As the legal dispute continues, the incident raises questions about the internal dynamics within the Chabad-Lubavitch movement and the factors contributing to the dramatic confrontation at 770 Eastern Parkway.
