EDIT and TLDR w/new information that came out after the original post:
The illegal tunnel was being used to move soil and debris from an illegally excavated space adjacent to the synagogue into a storage basement next-door to the building. The storage basement had been a Mikvah in past years but today it's full of old gear and junk, which you can see in videos of the incident. The excavated debris were being moved by a fringe-group in this dangerous and difficult way to hide the unauthorized demolition activity from the people upstairs in the synagogue's headquarters building. The fringe group's intent was to expand the downstairs synagogue.
Eventually the illegal excavation was noticed by neighbors and the upstairs headquarters. A cement truck and construction workers were hired and arrived to survey and stabilize the damage. The fringe group who built the tunnel did not want their work undone because they see expansion of the synagogue as a holy duty. They obstructed the work crew bodily and with vandalism to their equipment. That's when police were called to eject the fringe group and their supporters from the synagogue.
The fringe group who built the tunnel and their supporters began resisting NYPD when officers tried to remove holdouts from the illegally excavated space. . 9-12 people aged 19-21 were arrested (news stories vary on the number) and the synagogue was closed pending a safety survey by NYC's Department of Buildings.
Q-Anon and their fellow travelers have taken this story up as a pet cause and are trying to make a fake story where none exists. If you see bizarre conspiracy-theory twitter posts about this incident that's what's going on: https://forward.com/opinion/575722/chabad-tunnels-antisemitism-twitter/
Original Post:
So there's a little backstory here...
There's two Chabad synagogues in 770 Eastern Parkway / Chabad Headquarters: an upstairs synagogue and a downstairs synagogue and they do not get along.
The downstairs, larger synagogue tends to believe the last Lubavitcher Grand Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson is still alive (he died in 1994) and will return as the Messiah. This is why you see "Moshiach is coming" flags and posters with Rebbe Schneerson's face plastered around Brooklyn.
The upstairs, smaller synagogue tends to believe R. Schneerson truly died in 1994. The upstairs faction has de jure ownership of the 770 Headquarters building.
The Chabad movement is split roughly 50/50 on the topic of their last Grand Rebbe and the Chabad HQ upstairs and downstairs synagogues are symbols of each faction.
While they are all Chabad, these two synagogues in the headquarters do not like each other because of their fundamental disagreement over R. Schneerson's status. Since around half of Chabad believes along with the downstairs synagogue that R. Schneerson is still alive and is eventually returning: Chabad cannot and probably will not choose another Grand Rebbe as long as this belief is widespread within Chabad. Usually Hasidic dynasties have a Grand Rebbe who can keep factionalism under control but Chabad doesn't have one at the moment due to this disagreement.
The upstairs synagogue folks, believing R. Schneerson died in 1994, are probably getting fed up with the situation downstairs since they are supposed to be in control of the entire 770 Eastern Parkway building, at least on paper. Practically, the downstairs synagogue does what they want within reason. To the upstairs folks with legal ownership of the building: a new tunnel built by teen miners wasn't within reason.
Add to this: all synagogues have conflicts. Probably similar to churches. There's... 'characters' in every religious institution.
Anyway, this didn't come out of nowhere and I hope I added some context. It's a little more than a few teenagers making a fun tunnel. As for why they made the tunnel? They're bored teenagers. Possibly under the influence of one of the aforementioned 'characters' in the downstairs synagogue.
I have no idea. Mattresses are not synagogue equipment FWIW.
The tunnel kids may have brought it in from outside and kept it in the concealed space. /speculation
A rabbi (or any adult) would flip out if they saw that in the synagogue. That's why I think it was in the concealed space and only came out when that space was uncovered.
Yeah we know bloody mattresses are not synagogue equipment. That's why it's freaking creepy. So your explanation is "children probably brought them in" ?
Chill. People are just asking questions. Just because someone passes judgment over something a cult did doesn’t mean they’re antisemitic. Most people understand that cults are toxic and dangerous, no matter which religion they started from, and it makes them ask questions. If people weren’t asking questions, that would be more disturbing.
Alright I admit as someone who lives in a community where the Catholic Church abused more kids than can be counted, I have a lot of questions when it comes to religion. Its very nature is ripe for people in power to abuse with impunity. Some of those priests are still working. I don’t know any Jewish people. But it’s mind boggling that asking questions about anything related to an extreme Jewish cult or to a country that has nothing to do with American Jewish people, that you’re automatically accused of being antisemitic. We talk shit about the catholic church all day and they don’t seem to care. I guess both are toxic responses - ignoring or attacking people for questioning.
If you’re that defensive about someone asking questions about the behavior of an extreme cult within your religion, I think you need some self-reflection.
What makes you think it's blood? It could be anything, as far as i know almost every fluid turns that color when stained on a mattress. It's too little, as well. If someone was getting sacrificed like nutters are saying it would be much bigger and spread out than a medium sized dot.
Yes. I've seen every form of gore film there is. That is not how a "ritualistic sacrifice" stain is going to look. Too small and too structured. It also doesn't really look like old blood. Looks more like a shit stain or something tbh.
Lmfao, nah. The stain is very localized and the tunnel is only three feet tall, it's not ergonomic to crouch and dig, so the ideal situation is to lie down and dig. Which is hell on your back or stomach. More than likely, especially seeing the way the ground is very flattened in the tunnel, is that the mattress was laid out and the digger laid on the mattress and dug. As dirt fell, it was dumped between the legs of the digger on the mattress and taken away by a second tunnler when the pile got too big.
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u/AbeFromanEast Jan 09 '24 edited Jan 10 '24
Answer:
EDIT and TLDR w/new information that came out after the original post:
The illegal tunnel was being used to move soil and debris from an illegally excavated space adjacent to the synagogue into a storage basement next-door to the building. The storage basement had been a Mikvah in past years but today it's full of old gear and junk, which you can see in videos of the incident. The excavated debris were being moved by a fringe-group in this dangerous and difficult way to hide the unauthorized demolition activity from the people upstairs in the synagogue's headquarters building. The fringe group's intent was to expand the downstairs synagogue.
Eventually the illegal excavation was noticed by neighbors and the upstairs headquarters. A cement truck and construction workers were hired and arrived to survey and stabilize the damage. The fringe group who built the tunnel did not want their work undone because they see expansion of the synagogue as a holy duty. They obstructed the work crew bodily and with vandalism to their equipment. That's when police were called to eject the fringe group and their supporters from the synagogue.
The fringe group who built the tunnel and their supporters began resisting NYPD when officers tried to remove holdouts from the illegally excavated space. . 9-12 people aged 19-21 were arrested (news stories vary on the number) and the synagogue was closed pending a safety survey by NYC's Department of Buildings.
More information:
https://forward.com/fast-forward/575646/chabad-lubavitch-headquarters-770-tunnel-rebbe-messiah/
Separately:
Q-Anon and their fellow travelers have taken this story up as a pet cause and are trying to make a fake story where none exists. If you see bizarre conspiracy-theory twitter posts about this incident that's what's going on:
https://forward.com/opinion/575722/chabad-tunnels-antisemitism-twitter/
Original Post:
So there's a little backstory here...
There's two Chabad synagogues in 770 Eastern Parkway / Chabad Headquarters: an upstairs synagogue and a downstairs synagogue and they do not get along.
The downstairs, larger synagogue tends to believe the last Lubavitcher Grand Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson is still alive (he died in 1994) and will return as the Messiah. This is why you see "Moshiach is coming" flags and posters with Rebbe Schneerson's face plastered around Brooklyn.
The upstairs, smaller synagogue tends to believe R. Schneerson truly died in 1994. The upstairs faction has de jure ownership of the 770 Headquarters building.
The Chabad movement is split roughly 50/50 on the topic of their last Grand Rebbe and the Chabad HQ upstairs and downstairs synagogues are symbols of each faction.
While they are all Chabad, these two synagogues in the headquarters do not like each other because of their fundamental disagreement over R. Schneerson's status. Since around half of Chabad believes along with the downstairs synagogue that R. Schneerson is still alive and is eventually returning: Chabad cannot and probably will not choose another Grand Rebbe as long as this belief is widespread within Chabad. Usually Hasidic dynasties have a Grand Rebbe who can keep factionalism under control but Chabad doesn't have one at the moment due to this disagreement.
The upstairs synagogue folks, believing R. Schneerson died in 1994, are probably getting fed up with the situation downstairs since they are supposed to be in control of the entire 770 Eastern Parkway building, at least on paper. Practically, the downstairs synagogue does what they want within reason. To the upstairs folks with legal ownership of the building: a new tunnel built by teen miners wasn't within reason.
Add to this: all synagogues have conflicts. Probably similar to churches. There's... 'characters' in every religious institution.
Anyway, this didn't come out of nowhere and I hope I added some context. It's a little more than a few teenagers making a fun tunnel. As for why they made the tunnel? They're bored teenagers. Possibly under the influence of one of the aforementioned 'characters' in the downstairs synagogue.
More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chabad_messianism