Police in Brooklyn are still investigating the discovery Monday night of a tunnel secretly excavated under the Chabad Lubavitch Headquarters, allegedly by “extremist students” seeking to pray off-hours.
Officers from the 71st Precinct responded to the headquarters at 77o Eastern Pkwy. in Crown Heights after a “disorderly group” had been reported illegally breaking down the wall and trespassing.
As shown in videos posted to social media, a number of Hasidic Jewish men had climbed into the tunnel, carved into stone and dirt, to apparently stop it from being filled. Construction crews had been called in to repair the hole in the wall.
But after police arrived, the men in the tunnel refused to leave, leading to a struggle and subsequent arrests. Police did not confirm how many people were arrested at the synagogue, though published reports state that between 9-10 men were cuffed.
The charges were still pending as of Tuesday afternoon, a police spokesperson told Brooklyn Paper, which first reported the story for Schneps Media.
How the tunnel was dug remains under investigation; Chabad Lubavitch spokesperson Motti Seligson said that a group of “extremist students” had previously broken through walls at properties abutting the headquarters in order to access the synagogue without permission.
Crews came to the Chabad HQ on Jan. 8 to repair the wall, but their efforts were ultimately stopped by a rowdy group seeking to keep the secret portal in place.
Another Chabad representative, Yaacov Behrman, shared in an unofficial statement on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) that he believed “rogue individuals” had been working to excavate an illegal cellar beside the synagogue, and were leaving debris in a nearby vacant property.
“To avoid detection, they dug a small passage from the illegal cellar into the neighboring property to dispose of the debris unnoticed,” Behrman said. “Attempts by these rogue individuals to prevent workers from sealing the area led to the involvement of the NYPD, who acted professionally, responsibly, and with great sensitivity.”
Construction of the tunnel — and the events that unfolded Monday — may have been connected to the years-long feud between Chabad Lubavitch and the Chabad Messianism movement, according to The Forward.
While members of the Messianism movement – which is disavowed by Chabad Lubavitch — hold the title to the property at 784-788 Eastern Pkwy., where the synagogue is located, they do not control the synagogue itself, which is located underground.
“Lubavitch officials have attempted to gain proper control of the premises through the New York State court system; unfortunately, despite consistently prevailing in court, the process has dragged on for years,” Seligson said in a statement.
The Chabad Lubavich Headquarters was closed Tuesday for structural inspection. Meanwhile, someone filed a complaint with the Department of Buildings on Tuesday, alleging that the tunnel extended beneath their property and was “destroying” their foundation.
It was not immediately clear how long the building would remain shuttered. In a statement, Chabad Lubavitch HQ said it was “pained” by the vandalism at 770 Eastern Pkwy., and assured that “the sanctity of the synagogue will be restored.”
