Where We're Going, We Don't Need Tunnels
Tech Tribe Dispatch #232
💡 Think:
I never expected to trend like this.
A heady mix of insanity, vandalism, the toxic allure of tunnels, video and the Internet caused Jewish tunnels and 770, Chabad World Headquarters, to trend for what’s been close to a week. (I’m not going into the details - for the only good media take, see Anna Merlan’s piece in Vice)
As Tech Tribe friend and comedian extraordinaire Alex Edelman said, “this was going to be hilarious but single-brain cell conspiracy theorists got to it first.”
In reality, there are no tunnels below 770.
What there is, however, in this place is something much more powerful.
For that, we need the other trending topic this week, the Talmud1.
Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai says: Come and see how beloved the Jewish people are before the Holy One, Blessed be He. As every place they were exiled, the Divine Presence went with them. They were exiled to Egypt, and the Divine Presence went with them… They were exiled to Babylonia, and the Divine Presence went with them… So too, when, in the future, they will be redeemed, the Divine Presence will be with them… the Holy One, Blessed be He, will return together with them from among the various exiles…
Judaism, from Sinai until the destruction of Jerusalem, had the tabernacle and Holy temple at the heart of its divine service. There, in the holy of holies, the sanctum within a sanctum, the Divine presence could be felt in the most profound ways… and then? Destruction. Diaspora.
But in their wanderings from Egypt to Babylon, from Rome to Warsaw, from Brooklyn to Mumbai, the Jewish people brought that holy of holies with them. No longer focused on a single locus, the Divine could be experienced around the world. The Jewish people would never be alone - even at their darkest, most bedraggled state, the Holy One, blessed be He, is there with us.
How? The Talmud continues:
The verse states: “Yet I have been to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they have come2” . Rabbi Yitzḥak said: This is referring to the synagogues and study halls in Babylon. And Rabbi Elazar said: This is referring to the house of our master, Rav, in Babylonia, from which Torah issues forth to the entire world.
We would build for ourselves the little sanctuary, the synagogue, or —more broadly— any place where Jews could learn Torah, could connect to their creator, that place would become one of the loci for the indwelling and expression of the sublime.
Think for a moment: Your home, your office, wherever you are… give some charity to the poor, study a little Torah (perhaps even by just reading this very news letter) say the Shema, put positivity out there for the sick… you’ve transformed your space into a sublime temple for the Most High.
And then there are those places that serve as a superlocus - a place where the revelation of Torah, of community, of connection, is one that unites the totality of the Jewish people.
And Rabbi Elazar said: This is referring to the house of our master, Rav, in Babylonia, from which Torah issues forth to the entire world.
In the times of the Talmud, Rabbi Elazar notes, it was the house of Rav, “Our Master in Babylonia” that brought together the Jewish people - a place from Torah and light went out to the world.
On Wednesday, a cold overcast day, I stood outside of 770. Cops stood at every corner. Access to the upstairs offices, where I work, was limited as the NYC Department of Buildings conducted tests on the the complex of buildings known as 770. Prayers and Torah study continued unabated, in a tent outdoors, bringing back the pandemic vibes of 2021… A man with a grey Adidas hoodie and a cellphone stalked up and down the block. Chasing after whoever he could, he shoved his camera inches from their faces and demanded the sudden interviewee tell his Instagram followers the real story about the tunnels and the secrets inside the building.
”He’s been doing that for the past five hours,” one of the cops told me.
Coming back hours later, a man with a kilt and bagpipes played chasidic tunes, the man in the Adidas hoodie had left and returned, with a battery pack to continue to live stream his investigation.
While I stood there, an elderly couple, members of the Syrian-Jewish community from Argentin,a approached.
”We came from Buenos Aires for a trip, and wanted to visit the synagogue,” they said.
770 is more than just an address, it’s a superlocus - it’s where for over forty years the Rebbe inspired the world - from the profound Kabalistic secrets to prison reform — where he met people of all walks of life… and where people of all backgrounds continue to come and connect.
There is a final teaching in this Talmudic passage that unlocks the true secrets of this synagogue
Rabbi Elazar HaKappar says: In the future, the synagogues and the study halls in Babylonia will be transported and reestablished in Eretz Yisrael… [for in] the synagogues and study halls in Babylonia, in which the Torah is read and disseminated…
Evert synagogue has a tunnel. Not a physical space, but a spiritual bond to the Holy Land and to other places of Jewish gathering. It has a spark of the innate goodness in the world that we all seek to reveal. That path, of light and elevation and the soul, takes us where we want to go, without any need for tunnels.
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⛏️ Tech Tribe friend Anna Merlan writes perhaps the only good take on what happened at 770. Hidden Passageway Beneath New York Chabad Building Drives Chaos and Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories
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