The Habad-Lubavic movement, a branch of Hasidic Jews in the Brooklyn neighborhood of New York, is opposed to the leadership of the synagogue and the two sides are at odds over the ownership of the century-old structure. Due to this dispute, it was determined that Habad-Lubavics have been digging tunnels for the last 6 months to take over the synagogue. The tunnel was tried to be filled with concrete by the authorities, but 10 people were arrested. Hasidic Jews are the group most strongly opposed to Israel’s massacre in Gaza.
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It was revealed that a secret tunnel was being built under a synagogue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of New York in the US. Police teams arriving at the synagogue on Monday with a cement truck to fill the tunnel encountered resistance from the congregation. In the incidents that broke out, 10 people who refused to come out of the tunnel were detained. The teams continued their work after the demonstrators were removed from the tunnels.
Yosef Braun, the synagogue’s rabbi, said the behavior of the youths who resisted police was ‘terrible’ and damaged the holy site. The tunnel built under the synagogue led to an abandoned ‘mikveh’ in the area. A mikveh is the name given to a bathhouse where Jews bathe at certain times in the belief of purification. However, it is not clear why the tunnel was built.
DISPUTE OVER CENTURY-OLD STRUCTURE
According to the report in the Daily Mail, the division within Hasidic Jews was effective in the background of the events. It was stated that the Habad-Lubavic movement, a branch of Hasidic Jews, was against the leadership of the synagogue and the two sides had a dispute over the ownership of the hundred-year-old building. It was reported that Jews belonging to the Habad-Lubavic movement have been digging tunnels under the synagogue for at least 6 months.
‘THOSE AT THE SCENE ARE ISRAELI CITIZENS’
The tunnels were first discovered in December and synagogue leaders called in structural engineers to assess the damage. After a cement truck arrived on the scene to fill the tunnels, demonstrators, many of them young people, entered the tunnels and tried to prevent them from being filled. Hasidic news website COL Live reported that many of the protesters at the scene were Israeli citizens.
WHO ARE HASIDIC JEWS?
Hasidism is a religious movement that developed among Polish Jews in the 18th century and encompasses almost half of the Jewish masses. Hasidism literally means ‘piety’. Hasidic doctrine represents the Protestant doctrine that emphasizes the feeling and emotion of faith over religious dogma and rituals.
Hasidism should be seen as one of the most important religious (spiritual) revolutions that affected the social life of Jews in general and Eastern European Jews in particular. Hasidism brought new hope and happiness to large masses of people in the darkest days of the Jewish people. Hasidism has a number of characteristic features.
Hasidism is a revivalist movement that draws its strength from the people and emerged out of an explosion of religious fervor.
Hasidism is a mystical movement. In Hasidism, Kabbalistic thought and terminology have been transformed into a form that can be understood and practiced by the general public.
Hasidic Jews are part of Orthodox Judaism. Like other Orthodox Jews, Hasidim depend on the Bible as their guide and direction. They live their lives according to the 613 mitzvot. These 613 commandments, as defined in the Bible, Oral Law, later teachings and tradition, regulate every aspect of Hasidic life: social, moral, ritual, social, ethical and ritual.
They try to practice as close as possible to the original Torah. Since killing is forbidden in the 10 commandments, they are not supporters of Israel today.
Hasidic Jews are the segment of Israeli society that has reacted most strongly to the Gaza war.
