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| Chaos at 770 (COL-Live) |
It took months, perhaps years, for a small crew of Lubavitchers to dig a secret passageway underneath the famed headquarters of the Chabad movement. They would not let it be filled so easily.
The New York Police Department was called Monday to 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, where a number of Chabad students — most in their teens and early 20s — mounted a last stand against construction crews called to fill in the tunnel connecting the synagogue at that location to the defunct Chabad mikvah around the corner.
In videos circulating on community news sources and social media, Lubavitchers can be seen ripping down the wood paneling on the south wall of the synagogue, revealing a cavernous concrete space about 20 feet wide underneath the women’s section. Several young men were sitting or standing in the space — apparently to prevent it from being filled — as scores of others watched or recorded video on their phones.
NYPD eventually made 10 arrests, according to community news outlet CrownHeights.info. Video showed several men in Lubavitch garb being led out, their wrists bound with zip ties.
No explanation has been given by anyone about why this tunnel was built. But that it was built surreptitiously by a group of Chabad Meshichists (messianics) from Israel tells a story. Not a very flattering one.
Those of us that are familiar with Lubavitch know what a Meshichist is. For those unfamiliar, the short version is that they believe that their late Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the Messiah and that he will be resurrected in a second coming.
Although after their Rebbe died, most mainstream Lubavitchers no longer believe he is Moshiach they nevertheless allow for that possibility and consider it a legitimate if unlikely Jewish belief. But there are still a fair amount of Meshichists both here and especially in Israel. (If I understand correctly they may make up the majority of Chabad there.)
The problem is the mainstream Chabad tolerance of them. How tolerant? If one visits 770 (which is how they refer to their international headquarters - located at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn where these tunnels were discovered) one will find it dominated and controlled by Meshichists. There are signs and pictures all over their main sanctuary including on the cover of the Aron Kodesh (holy ark) that declare (in Hebrew) ‘Long live our teacher, and our rabbi, the king, the Messiah!’
I know that mainstream Lubavitch is upset by this and have been trying to evict them from770 through the US legal system. But they have thus far failed. That they tolerate their flagship institution being run by people that believe in such foolishness undermines their legitimacy among much of the rest of mainstream Orthodoxy. It also damages their claim of opposition to them.
What, one may ask, can they do about that? Here’s the thing. The idea of a tolerating control of their world headquarters by a group of people that fervently believe that their now dead leader will be resurrected in a second coming ought to be so outrageous that if they can’t oust them from 770 by legal means they ought to set up a new headquarters somewhere else. And then declare the old location to no longer represents Chabad at all. Allowing such nonsense which borders on the heretical ought to be enough to motivate them to act.
But I suppose they can’t bring themselves to abandon their Rebbe’s old domain. I have even heard 770 described as the new Beis HaMikdash!
It is so sad that this great movement whose outreach to assimilated Jews is beyond compare, reaching new heights all the time - has fallen to a point of ridicule among much of the rest of Orthodoxy. Their late Rebbe was one of the most impactful rabbinic leaders of the 20th century – a man whose influence is even greater today over 25 years after his death, than it was when he was still alive.
As great as the Rebbe was the problems Chabad is now experiencing can be directly attributed to the Rebbe himself. Shortly before his death he promoted the idea of Moshiach’s imminent arrival and did everything but declare himself to be Moshiach toward achieving that end. The vast majority of the Chabad faithful actually believed he was Moshiach. Calls for the Rebbe to reveal himself as Moshiach was a common event. Although he denied it, he never discouraged his Chasidim from doing that. Which in my view led most of them to believe he was just being modest.
Until he died. Once that happened the fervor died down but never fully disappeared, even among the mainstream. By now it has cooled down considerably to a sort of muted and private belief in the possibility while admitting that it’s not likely. Thereby tolerating it in 770. But the diehard Meshichists have never given up on that belief. And they control 770. Those tunnels built by Meshichists from Israel no doubt have something to do with that.
The discovery of these tunnels and the chaos that ensued has done more than just affect Chabad. From the Forward:
This is a story that is at turns baffling, amusing and heartbreaking. The fact that it is also utterly bizarre, especially to outsiders, has caused it to go viral. And almost as soon as it did, so too did the antisemitic conspiracies.
First circulating in unregulated forums like 4chan and QAnon Telegram channels, stills of a mattress and a high chair seen in videos and photos of the tunnels was used as “evidence” that Jews were engaging in ritual child rape.
Stories of actual abuse in the Chabad community were dug up as further “proof” for these completely fabricated claims. Some tweets falsely claimed that the tunnels were connected to “secret Satanic groups and 4,000 ritual human sacrifices are performed in New York City every year,” a modern-day blood libel.
Since Oct. 7, many white nationalist accounts have exploited the lack of moderation on X — and the tacit approval of Elon Musk — to grow their audiences with effective and deceptive marketing techniques. In particular, many have rebranded themselves as pro-Palestinian advocates, and have grown their followings exponentially as a result.
It still amazes me the extent to which antisemites will go to promote their Jew hatred. That right wing White Supremacists join left wing pro Palestinian supporters shows that their Jew hatred overrides their ultra conservative political agenda.
Mainstream Chabad is extremely upset by these tunnels and the people that built them. I wish I could say that this is a watershed moment for Chabad. That they will finally and completely disavow the Meshichists as illegitimate. And use their considerable financial resources to build a new ‘770’ as their new headquarters. And declare their old location invalid. If there was ever a time to for them to fish or cut bait, this is it,
But I don’t believe this will happen. They are too attached to that old building and will continue to tolerate control by their Meshichist fools. As successful as Chabad is, this taints their considerable accomplishments. That is why Chabad will remain controversial among so much of mainstream Orthodoxy.