this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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I still feel a little lost. Why exactly was everyone so upset? It looks like a service tunnel, maybe even just an old abandoned and forgotten link in the MTA tunnels. And “tunnel” seemed like a strong word from the footage. It was an area and then a crawl space.
Or am I missing something?
You can't build tunnels in an urban environment without a permit.
Allegedly the tunnel is under other properties as well.
I don't know why they want the tunnel, but I understand why the government is looking into it.
Yeah everyone is saying the “what” part and the codes, structural integrity, blah, blah, but I have yet to see “why is was built” and “why did it cause a riot”
Basically, the synagogue is the headquarters of Chabad. It used to be the synagogue of the lubbavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, before his death in the 90s.
There's something of a schism in Chabad between people who think that the rebbe could have been the messiah but died, wasn't the messiah, that he's going to be revived as the messiah or that he's the messiah but in hiding until the time is right.
The rebbe said a few years before his death that he wanted the synagogue there expanded. After his death, the building's been caught up in ownership disputes between the assorted organizations and factions, preventing any expansion.
Apparently, a bunch of messianic yeshiva students there got fed up with waiting, and decided to start tunneling over to the synagogue, with the idea that the tunnel would be turned into the expansion they need to prepare for (or trigger, I'm not quite sure) the rebbe's return.
Thank you! It’s been hard to find that information in the articles.