NYC orders vacating of Chabad HQ for stabilization work after tunnel discovery
Multiple buildings around 770 Eastern Parkway are emptied as work begins to fill in 18-meter-long illegal cavity dug by extremist students trying to expand synagogue
NEW YORK (AP) — New York building officials have issued emergency work orders to stabilize the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters 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 feet (18.3 meters) long, 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide and 5 feet (1.5 meters) high located underneath the global headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch movement at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. It also 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, said in an email to The Associated Press.
The spokesperson added that the tunnel did not have approval and permits from the city. City inspectors found dirt, tools and debris inside.
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.”
Those who supported the tunnel, meanwhile, said they were carrying out an “expansion” plan long envisioned by the late head of the Chabad movement, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who is referred to as the Lubavitcher rebbe.
Rudansky, of the building department, said the excavation work to create the tunnel caused structural issues at two single-story buildings, resulting in orders to partially vacate them for safety reasons.
The agency also issued a full vacate order at a two-story brick building behind the synagogue. Seligson said the building, which houses offices and a lecture hall, had been vacated prior to the city’s order.
There was inadequate and rudimentary shoring used in the tunnel, the investigation found, as well as in basement-level wall openings created in adjacent buildings.
The owners of the buildings have already engaged an architect, engineer and contractor to do the needed work, Rudansky said.
The department has also cited the synagogue for the illegal excavation work that created the tunnel, he said.
The property, which was once the home of Lubavitch rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, is a deeply revered site that each year receives thousands of visitors, including international students and religious leaders. Its Gothic Revival facade, immediately recognizable to adherents of the Chabad movement, has inspired dozens of replicas across the world.
Last month, reports surfaced about unauthorized attempts to “tunnel” into the synagogue housed at the 770 complex from a Chabad-linked office building next door. By Monday, the construction project had broken through the basement walls of the office building, said witnesses to the day’s events and a Chabad spokesperson, and a cement truck was called in to repair the damage.
When the group responsible for the unauthorized construction realized the cement would block their attempt to gain access to the 770 complex, they ripped down wood paneling in the crowded subterranean floor of the synagogue. Videos from the scene showed a chaotic crowd of young men shouting, arguing with police, being handcuffed and being removed from the building. Several had retreated into a dark, concrete cavity that had been exposed behind the wood panels.
???????????? #BREAKING: The NYPD discover secret tunnels under a synagogue in NYC.
The tunnel allowed members of Chabad (a Hasidic Jewish sect) to attend the synagogue during lockdown. pic.twitter.com/mMtsAvglKv
— Venus ???? (@invincible39) January 9, 2024
On Monday afternoon, police were called to the synagogue to deal with what an NYPD spokesperson called “a disorderly group” at the synagogue “who unlawfully entered the premises and damaged a wall.”
The NYPD spokesperson said police arrested 12 people and that there were no injuries. Charges include criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and attempted hate crimes — though the spokesperson did not have further information on the nature of the alleged hate crimes. The suspects were all between 19 and 22 years old.
JTA contributed to this story.
The Times of Israel Community.