Some Lubavitchers prayed outdoors on Wednesday, as Chabad-Lubavitch Headquarters remained closed.
Photo by Camille Botello
Three buildings at Chabad-Lubavitch Headquarters in Brooklyn have been hit with vacate orders after the discovery of an illegal tunnel beneath the complex, according to the Department of Buildings.
The tunnel is 60 feet long and 8 feet wide with a 5-foot-tall ceiling supported by “inadequate rudimentary shoring,” DOB inspectors found, and stretches below a single-story extension behind the headquarters.
Constructed without DOB permits, or permission from Chabad-Lubavitch leadership, the tunnel reportedly connected to the basements of several adjacent buildings. Two of those buildings — 786 Eastern Parkway and 1457 Union St. in Crown Heights — were structurally compromised by the tunnel, and have been hit with partial vacate orders. A third building, at 302 Kingston Ave., received a full vacate order due to fire safety concerns, as firewalls in the basement and on the first floor of the building had been removed.
All three buildings affected are part of Chabad-Lubavitch HQ at 770 Eastern Parkway.
The DOB also ordered the owners of the buildings to begin emergency repairs to restabilize the structures and seal up openings into the tunnel. A department spokesperson said the owners have already begun emergency repairs with the help of an architect, engineer, and general contractor.
It was not immediately clear who dug the tunnel, or for what purposes. Motti Seligson, a Chabad spokesperson, said in a statement that “extremist students” had broken through walls at adjacent properties in order to access a basement-level synagogue at 784-788 Eastern Parkway “some time ago.”
The incident came amid a long-running rift in the Chabad movement, which began after the death of former leader The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. A splinter group of Lubavitchers believe the Rebbe was the Messiah and did not truly die —…
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