Tipsheet

Hasidic Jews Dug Secret Tunnels in New York City

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  January 09, 2024 10:35 PM

So, there are secret Jewish tunnels in New York City? No, this isn’t meant to draw parallels to Hamas terror tunnels or any cuckoo conspiracy theory that’s soaked in antisemitism, but this is a bizarre incident that devolved into mayhem when NYPD officers descended into the neighborhood of Crown Heights in Brooklyn to bring order to the situation.

The video is out of control, with members of the Hasidic community being arrested on-site and crawling out of sewers when their hideouts were busted. We won’t go into the internet theories—you can do that alone. But we have a secret tunnel, a bloody mattress, and a “group of student extremists” apparently going rogue, but over what? The tunnel was dug alongside a historic synagogue in the borough. As some observed, it’s a Shawshank Redemption-like tunnel that was so extensive that it led to city officials inspecting the structure’s integrity (via Associated Press): 


A group of Hasidic Jewish worshippers were arrested amid a dispute over a tunnel secretly dug into the side of a historic Brooklyn synagogue, setting off a brawl between police and those who tried to defend the makeshift passageway. 

The discovery of the tunnel at the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Crown Heights prompted an emergency structural inspection from the city Tuesday. 

The building at 770 Eastern Parkway was once home to the movement’s leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and draws thousands of visitors each year. Its Gothic Revival facade is immediately recognizable to adherents of the Chabad movement and replicas of the revered building have been constructed all over the world. 

Motti Seligson, a spokesperson for Chabad, said a “group of extremist students” had secretly broken through the walls of a vacant building behind the headquarters, creating an underground passage beneath a row of office buildings and lecture halls that eventually connected to the synagogue. 

[…] 

Video shot by witnesses showed police confronting young men standing within a hollowed out space inside a brick wall. After officers removed one of the men from the dusty crevasse, a group of onlookers can be seen shoving officers, tossing wooden desks and scattering prayer books. One officer appeared to deploy an irritating spray at the jeering group. 

Police said 10 people were arrested for criminal mischief and criminal trespass and one for obstructing governmental administration. 

It wasn’t immediately clear when the tunnel was constructed or what purpose it served. 

So, we have some Hasidic Jews making tunnels and breaking into synagogues, and no one knows why. Let your imaginations run wild on this one, but the memes have been gold. I can’t post all of them because, well, you know where some people’s minds have gone here. 

We’ll keep you updated.

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