Secret synagogue tunnel causes altercation that leads to nine arrests

A decades-old fight over the direction of one of New York’s most prominent Hasidic Jewish groups descended into chaos this week when a faction of the group clashed with police over a tunnel secretly built to its main synagogue of the movement, one of the most important synagogues of the movement. the most important religious sites in the city.

The tunnel, a passageway between the headquarters of the group, the Chabad-Lubavitcher movement, and at least one adjacent property, was first discovered late last year. according to local news reports. But Monday afternoon, after a cement truck was brought in to fill the tank, some Hasidic men tried to block the attempt.

Police were called and officers said they found a group of men breaking through a wall of the prayer room leading to the tunnel. After a subsequent confrontation, which included skirmishes with officers, nine people were arrested, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.

Motti Seligson, a spokesman for Lubavitcher, described those who built the tunnel as a group of “extremist students.”

“This is obviously deeply troubling for the Lubavitch movement and the Jewish community worldwide,” he said in a written statement.

The clash took place at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the global headquarters of the movement, which is often referred to simply as 770.

It is not yet known exactly who built the tunnel, how they did it or what they hoped to achieve. But two men who said they spoke to some who broke through the synagogue’s wall said the motive was to hasten an expansion of 770 — a move that Lubavitcher movement leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Rebbe, asked. more than three decades ago.

The desired expansion is part of a conflict over the future of the movement that goes back at least thirty years.

The Hasidic group has been dealing with an internal dispute since the death of the Rebbe in 1994. A successor was never appointed.

The mainstream Lubavitcher leadership is committed to carrying out the Rebbe’s teachings and vision. But a smaller faction within the movement claims that the Rebbe is in fact the Messiah, and some in that group believe he never actually died. Legal disputes over 770’s role — including whether a plaque on an adjacent building could refer to the rebbe as deceased — have dragged on for years.

Conversations with members of the Hasidic community and reports in the local Hasidic press indicated that a group of messianic students was likely responsible for the construction of the tunnel, which they believe is a way to destroy the Lubavitcher Rebbe, whom they talk about in the present tense. to speak, to respect.

“They did it to expand the 770 and make it bigger,” said a man who gave his name as Zalmy Grossman and said he knew some of those arrested. “They have come to fulfill the Rebbe’s wishes.”

Omri Rahamim Bahar, 22, has been studying at 770 since arriving in New York from Israel four years ago. He said fellow community members were frustrated by leaders’ inaction in expanding the building to handle crowds during worship services. So, he said, some began taking matters into their own hands, in part by creating a tunnel from an adjacent building leading to the shrine wall.

After the cement truck arrived at 7.70 am on Monday, some men decided to enter the shrine from the tunnel. Video showed at least one man emerging from the tunnel covered in dust to the cheers of supporters.

“Of course it is difficult, and it does not feel good to see the main wall of the shrine with a hole in it, but I know there is no other way,” Mr Bahar said.

Videos taken from the building on Monday showed tumultuous scenes, with mostly young Hasidic men sitting in the tunnel, apparently to prevent it from filling up.

Videos and photos also showed some Hasidic men prying wooden panels from walls, and groups of men using large benches to physically prevent police from intervening and then skirmishing with officers, before one officer appeared to use some sort of spray to break the to disperse crowds.

News of the chaos spread quickly on social media, eventually culminating in a proliferation of anti-Semitic posts on social media, especially on X.

Shmuel Spielman entered the shrine Monday evening to say his evening prayers. Shortly after he entered, he saw “a commotion,” he said, describing a scene of a handful of young men — some of whom he recognized — breaking through the wall. “This is where the Rebbe came,” Mr. Spielman said. “I find this very annoying.”

Knowing that the shrine would be closed in the morning, he gathered his prayer materials and arranged to meet at another community member’s home for the morning service on Tuesday. He came by at 7:70 am on Tuesday to see if the building had reopened yet. That wasn’t the case, so he prepared to go to a large white tent that housed those who wanted to pray outside the building.

A spokesperson for the city’s Department of Buildings said inspectors were still on site as of 770 Tuesday evening and were examining the structural integrity of the building following the damage.

Jonah Markowitz and Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting.