‘For the Messiah’: Bizarre new details about why tunnel system was secretly built beneath New York synagogue

The discovery of a secret tunnel system beneath a Jewish synagogue has sparked an online frenzy, as fresh details about why it was built are revealed.

Bizarre new details have emerged about a secretive tunnel network illegally dug between a Jewish synagogue in New York, which made global headlines yesterday when efforts to fill it in with concrete sparked a riot and violent clashes with police.

Now, sources within the movement have told local media that the tunnels are linked to fringe beliefs that a dead former leader is the Messiah, who arrived on Earth to usher in the End of Days, and is secretly still alive.

A man enters the tunnel through a small grate. Picture: NY Post

The tunnels linked the main synagogue with nearby buildings. Picture: NY Post

Chabad-Lubavitcher is one of New York’s most prominent Hasidic Jewish groups and its headquarters is located in Crown Heights in Brooklyn.

Tensions over the future direction of the movement have been brewing for the better part of 30 years, with a small but vocal faction harbouring “extreme” views that ultimately led to the tunnel’s creation.

‘For the Messiah’

The building at 770 Eastern Parkway was the home of the movement’s founder Rabbi Yosef Yizchock Schneerson and became the headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitcher in the 1940s.

Following his death, he was succeeded by his son, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who wanted to expand the site as its attendance rapidly grew.

His grand plans never came to fruition.

Known simple as Rebbe, he died in 1994 and a dispute over who owned the building and plans for its future broke out.

Police had to be called when a group of men tried to prevent workers from filling in the tunnels.

Vision published by the New York Post shows the extent of the tunnel’s construction.

A source told The New York Times that those behind the tunnel’s construction were building it in order to “hasten” expansions into nearby buildings.

That group, known as Messianic Chasidim, believe Rebbe is the Messiah and is in fact still alive, and view the site as their Temple.

A report in The Jewish Chronicle claims a group of students linked to the sect began digging a tunnel into 770 Eastern Parkway six months ago after sneaking into a disused mikvah – a type of ritual bathhouse.

Other unconfirmed reports indicate part of the tunnel was also being dug into the basement of a second neighbouring building.

The location of the synagogue and at least one tunnel.

Three weeks ago, a resident of a nearby apartment building began noticing strange noises coming from behind the wall.

Concerned, they contacted authorities, and an eventual investigation led to the discovery of the tunnels, which some young men were working to expand.

In an email, spokesman Rabbi Motti Seligson said the commotion broke out on Monday night when a cement truck arrived to fill in the tunnel, a move ordered by the mainstream leadership.

“Those efforts were disrupted by the extremists who broke through the wall to the synagogue, vandalising the sanctuary, in an effort to preserve their unauthorised access.”

Authorities from the New York Department of Buildings have shut down the site while engineers conduct a structural safety review.

‘Anti-Semitic’ conspiracies spread

Vision circulating on social media shows what appears to be stained mattresses being removed from the tunnel, sparking wild speculation and a slew of conspiracy theories.

Some users on TikTok and X, formerly Twitter, claimed the sight of the mattresses was ‘proof’ human trafficking was taking place at the synagogue – a baseless claim Jewish leaders have described as anti-Semitic.

American far-right figure Nick Fuentes described the tunnel as “freaky stuff”.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anybody who’s doing anything good who is digging tunnels under the city,” Mr Fuentes said on his internet video show America First.

“That’s usually the beginning of a very dark story.”

Vision of stained mattresses inside the tunnel sparked dark conspiracy theories on social media.

On X, a post by a QAnon follower viewed and shared tens of thousands of times exaggerated the mattress story further.

“Child-size mattresses and tunnels were uncovered under a Jewish synagogue in NY. Tunnels and underground facilities are commonly used when trafficking children, adrenochrome harvesting, and baby farming. Arrests have been made”.

However, while vision does show mattresses behind the wall, considerable amounts of other items and rubbish are also seen throughout the tunnels.

A group of worshippers riot against police officers. Source: X

Others online compared the emergence of the tunnel to the vast underground network constructed by Hamas in Gaza.

“Hamas built tunnels to resist tyranny, but this tunnel is purely for evil purposes,” one X post read.

Anti-Defamation League director Johnathan Greenblatt told Rolling Stone magazine the online disinformation was “disturbing”.

“It’s deeply troubling that anyone would use this incident, which the Chabad movement at large has strongly condemned, to draw inappropriate and false comparisons to Hamas tunnels in Gaza,” Mr Greenblatt said.

He also condemned efforts to “propagate age-old anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, such as Jews are involved in human trafficking or organ harvesting”.

Extent of tunnel system

Vision published by the New York Post reveals more details about the extent of the tunnel’s construction.

The incredible footage leads viewers down a set of stairs and through hallways to a dirt-filled room where a roughly 60cm wide and 60cm high grate has been removed from a wall of a building across the street from 770 Eastern Parkway.

The eerie vision of the tunnel system has gone viral on social media.

The vision showed the extend of the tunnel’s construction.

After crawling through the hole, the person who shot the video shows a one-metre-high dirt tunnel that extends for about 15m and weaves around two corners.

Electrical wiring can be seen hanging from the top of the tunnel.

In one room, clothes and other items can be seen scattered on the floor, reportedly discarded by some of those who had been digging the tunnel.

A small but vocal faction view Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson as the Messiah and believe he is still alive, despite passing away in 1994.

A separate statement released by the Chabad-Lubavitcher said many of those responsible for digging the tunnel were young men “primarily in the US on student visas”.

“These individuals have been squatting in the synagogue and attempted to take control by demolishing walls to connect the basement to the adjacent building, intending to ‘expand’ the sanctuary,” it said.

“Steps are being taken to revoke their student visas and repatriate them to their countries of origin.”

Scandal with wide-reaching impact

Most members of the Chabad-Lubavitcher community have condemned both the existence of the tunnels and the violent scenes that erupted on Monday.

Chairman Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky issued a statement that read: “The Chabad Lubavitch community is pained by the vandalism of a group of young agitators who damaged the synagogue below Chabad headquarters.”

When the cement truck arrived, a commotion broke out and police were called.

Responding officers were faced with a fiery group of mostly young men and requested back-up, at which point people inside the tunnel broke through the wall into the main part of the synagogue.

Police arrest a man inside the synagogue.

Many sat inside the tunnel and refused to budge, and a brawl broke out.

Police charged nine men with a range of offences, including criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.

One of the movement’s leaders, Rabbi Yosef Braun, urged followers to “call out” those responsible “in all possible ways and strong terms”.

Rabbi Braun said he was “horrified” that they had damaged the “shul” – or synagogue.

He condemned their attempts to “demolish and destroy a shul — never mind the dangerous aspect, never mind the religious aspect — it’s mind-boggling.

“They need to be put in their place, put in their place in so many meanings of the word.”

Authorities have closed down the site to conduct engineering inspections.

The Hasidic community in Brooklyn is relatively small, and the Chabad-Lubavitcher movement even smaller still.

But the events of Monday evening and the worldwide attention they garnered are damaging for the broader Jewish community, author Mike Rothschild told Rolling Stone.

“If there are two things that modern conspiracy theories obsess over, it’s Jewish people and secret tunnels,” Mr Rothschild said.

“So obviously, Jewish people digging secret tunnels is going to set off alarms for people – even if the purpose of the tunnels turns out to be completely anodyne.

“The damage these theories do isn’t limited to the Chabad community, though. It casts all Jewish people as shifty, secretive, and clannish; doing strange things under cover of darkness for unknown purposes.”