An investigation by the city’s Department of Buildings uncovered a tunnel that was 60-foot-long, 8-foot-wide and 5-foot-high located underneath the global headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, an important Jewish site.
New York building officials have issued 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, 8-foot-wide and 5-foot-high located underneath the global headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, an important Jewish site. It extends under several buildings in the vicinity.
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The property 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.
Officials and locals said young men in the community recently built the tunnel in secret. When the group’s leaders tried to seal it off Monday, supporters of the tunnel staged a protest that turned violent as police moved in to make arrests.
This article sheds some light on it all
https://forward.com/news/575897/a-brief-history-of-the-messianic-movement-that-inspired-the-tunnel-under-770-eastern-parkway/
A lot of Messianic philosophy over the centuries has had to do with rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. I think the people who buy into this theory are trying to build that temple in Brooklyn, thinking that will cause their Messiah to come back.
I think the current leadership of the movement doesn’t buy into the Messianic theories, but clearly some others do.
Yes, there has long been a rift among followers of Chabad Judaism (a small but highly-visible sect of Judaism). Some believe that the last rebbe (leader of the sect) did not really die, but is continuing his sacred messianic work on another plane of existence. Others believe that he was not the messiah, but was merely his generation’s “candidate” for messiah, but the world was not ready. They believe that there is a possible messiah in every generation, and when the world is ready he will be revealed. The two groups refuse to discuss this rift for fear that it will tarnish his legacy.
In reality, he was just a very nice man with an incredible gift for marketing.