NYC issues vacate orders to parts of buildings for stabilization work due to Chabad HQ tunnel

New York building officials issue emergency work orders to stabilize a historic synagogue and its neighboring structures after an illicit underground tunnel was discovered at the sanctuary earlier this week.

An investigation by the city’s Department of Buildings uncovered a tunnel that was 60-foot-long (18.3 meter), 8-foot-wide (2.4 meter) and 5-foot-high (1.5 meter) located underneath the global headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch movement. It extends under several buildings in the vicinity.

“As a result of this extensive investigation, we have issued emergency work orders to stabilize the buildings above the tunnel, vacate orders in parts of the buildings to ensure occupant safety, and enforcement actions against the property owners for the illegal work,” Andrew Rudansky, a spokesperson for the buildings department, says in an email to The Associated Press.

A small group from the Hasidic movement, acting independently, attempted to break through a synagogue wall — a last-ditch attempt to connect part of the sanctuary to a building next door in order to expand the complex. The incident ended with shouting, scuffles and arrests

Rabbi Motti Seligson, a spokesperson for Chabad, characterized the tunnel as a rogue act of vandalism committed by a group of misguided young men, and condemned the “extremists who broke through the wall to the synagogue, vandalizing the sanctuary, in an effort to preserve their unauthorized access.”