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Blake, Wm. The Descent of Man into the Vale of Death- 'But Hope Rekindled, Only to Illume the Shades of Death, and Light Her to the Tomb.' 1805.

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Chaos erupted last night at the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn when a group of young Jewish men tried to stop police and construction crews from filling in a secret tunnel they illegally dug. According to the synagogue, the tunnel was dug to reach a closed-down women’s bath.

The men were filmed tearing down wood panels and wooden support beams. Other footage showed cops trying to hold back dozens of Hasidic Jewish men toppling over wooden pews in their anger. In one video, a Jewish man is seen climbing up from the sewer.

Members of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement have reportedly been digging a tunnel under the synagogue for nearly a year. It was designed to reach an abandoned women’s mikvah—or ritual bath—around the corner and “expand” the synagogue, according to the Jewish outlet Forward. It’s still unclear why digging an underground passage was necessary for this expansion.

The tunnel was finally discovered last month when neighbors reported suspicious noises coming from underneath their homes.

Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, the Chabad-Lubavitch chairman, issued a statement thanking the NYPD for its assistance: “The Chabad-Lubavitch community is pained by the vandalism of a group of young agitators who damaged the synagogue below Chabad Headquarters.”