770 Eastern Parkway (Yiddish: 770 איסטערן פארקוויי), also known as "770" ("Seven Seventy"), is the street address of the World Headquarters of the Chabad-LubavitchHasidic movement, located on Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The building is the center of the Chabad-Lubavitch world movement and considered by many to be an iconic site in Judaism.[1]
The house, in CollegiateGothic Revival style, was built in 1920, designed by Edwin Kline, and originally served as a medical office.[2] In 1940, with the assistance of Jacob Rutstein and his son Nathan Rothstein, the building was purchased by Agudas Chasidei Chabad on behalf of the Chabad Lubavitch movement and as a home for Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn when he arrived in the United States in 1940.[3] Because Rabbi Schneerson used a wheelchair, a building with an elevator needed to be purchased for his use as both a home and as a synagogue.[4]
The building, which soon became known as 770,[5] became the hub and central location for Chabad during the 1940s.[6] It served as the main Chabad synagogue, a yeshiva, and offices for the Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn lived in an apartment on the second floor.[4] When Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson arrived from Vichy France to New York in 1941, his father-in-law appointed him as chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch. The younger Rabbi Schneerson's office was located on the first floor of 770, near the synagogue.
After Yosef Yitzchok's passing in January 1950, his son-in-law and successor, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, continued to use his own office on the main floor to lead the movement, while maintaining his personal residence on President Street, several blocks away.[7] Yosef Yitzchok's wife remained resident in her apartment on the second floor until her death. Her two daughters would often visit her in her apartment, and during her lifetime the new Rebbe would conduct semi-private meals there for the family and selected visitors on festive occasions. Today, the previous Rebbe's apartment and office are closed to the public. Since 1994, Rabbi Menachem Mendel's office on the first floor is used on Shabbat and Jewish holidays as an additional prayer room open to the public during prayer times.
From its inception the synagogue has served three parallel purposes. It is a place of daily prayer services, a study hall for advanced students, and an assembly hall for Chabad gatherings, known as Farbrengens. Here the Lubavitcher Rebbe or elder Chassidim would address Chassidim and other visitors about Torah observance and Chassidic philosophy and practice.[8]
As the Lubavitch movement grew in the United States, the original synagogue became too small to house the chasidim and students who came to pray and study there. The synagogue was expanded in several stages. The first annex was added in 1960, with subsequent expansions taking place in the late 1960s and again in the mid-1970s. The synagogue then reached its current size. The original synagogue remains as a small study hall used by rabbinical students during the week. In 1988, Rabbi Schneersohn laid the cornerstone for an ongoing renovation project.[9] In 1991, 770 was the site of the Crown Heights riot between Orthodox Jewish residents and African American residents.[10]
Usage
The original building is part of a larger block maintained by the Agudas Chasidei Chabad. This block includes the larger synagogue, a Kollel (Kollel Tiferes Zekeinim), and the community's library. It also houses the offices of the secretariat of the Lubavitch Movement and other offices.
770 is an iconic site considered holy by members of the Chabad movement. It attracts thousands of visitors from around the world every year.[1][11] The building is recognized as an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, which is open to all people, with a men's section on the ground floor and a women's section on the floor above it. On Shabbat and holidays, smaller prayer groups can be found congregating throughout the building, including the lobby and office used by the Rebbe within the original 770 building.
The synagogue's official name is "Congregation Lubavitch of Agudas Chasidei Chabad".
Stabbing incident
On December 9, 2014, a little after 1:00 am, an individual with a documented history of mental health issues entered a synagogue and assaulted a student with a knife. Another student present reported that the assailant yelled threats during the incident. A police officer at the scene engaged with the assailant in an effort to detain him. The confrontation resulted in the officer discharging their weapon once, which resulted in the death of the assailant.[12][1][13]
Since at least the 2000s, the synagogue, located under 784 and 788 Eastern Parkway, has been subject to a dispute between the Agudas Chasidei Chabad (the umbrella organization for the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch movement) and the Gabbaim, who are Messianic Chasidim and control day-to-day operations of the main synagogue.[14] Though a court ruling in 2006 decided that full ownership of 770 belongs to Agudas Chasidei Chabad, ongoing legal disputes have prevented either party from altering the structure.[14]
In December 2023, an illegal tunnel was discovered connecting the main synagogue to a nearby unused mikveh.[15][16]The New York Times reported that the tunnel was part of an attempted expansion of 770.[5] In response, Chabad leadership closed the women's balcony on the floor above until the tunnel could be filled in[16] and called in construction crews to flood the expansion with concrete.[17] When workers tried to fill the tunnel on January 8, 2024, clashes broke out between Chabad messianists, who tried to prevent the tunnel from being filled,[18] and the New York City Police Department (NYPD).[18] The NYPD arrested nine people,[19][20] and the building was temporarily closed pending a structural safety review.[21] Footage of the January 8 incident and tunnel went viral on social media.[22]
Building
770 is the backdrop for the photo of Chabad rabbis taken annually during the Kinus
Main synagogue
The building contains a stairway that leads to the main synagogue. The synagogue is underground, and is considered part of 770, although it technically is mostly under 784 and 788.
Central Lubavitcher Yeshiva
The building contains a Yeshiva with approximately 1,000 students. The Yeshiva is a part of a group of Yeshivot called Tomchei Tmimim, started by the 5th Chabad Rebbe Sholom Dovber Schneersohn of Lubavitch.
Tzedakah boxes and mezuzah cases have been decorated with pictures of the building. Joseph Zakon Wineries in New York City makes a wine called "Seven-seventy". In the early 1990s, Chabad bar-mitzvah boys began using tefillin bags with an embroidered picture of seven-seventy.[25]
^Young, Michelle; Pasquet, Augustin; Rives, T. M. (2017). Secret Brooklyn: An Unusual Guide. Versailles: Jonglez publishing. ISBN978-2-36195-167-2.
^Ehrlich, Mark Avrum; Ehrlich, Avrum M. (2004). The Messiah of Brooklyn: understanding Lubavitch Hasidism past and present. Jersey City, NJ: KTAV. ISBN978-0-88125-836-3.
^Mintz, Jerome R. (1992). Hasidic People: A Place in the New World (3. printing ed.). Cambridge, Mass London: Harvard University Press. ISBN978-0-674-38115-5.
^Weingrod, Alex (1993). "Building 770 in Kfar Chabad: Changing Israeli Landscapes: Buildings and the Uses of the Past". Cultural Anthropology. 8 (3): 370–387. doi:10.1525/can.1993.8.3.02a00050.
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