770 Eastern Parkway

770 Eastern Parkway, [commonly abbreviated to 770 or Seven-seventy.] is the street address of the central headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, located on Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, in the United States of America.

History

The building originally served as a medical clinic, but after it was used to perform illegal abortions it was closed down by officials. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/16/AR2006101601299.html?referrer=emailarticle Illustrating That Looks Aren't Everything] ] In 1940 it was purchased by Agudas Chasidei Chabad and adapted for the needs of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn. Rabbi Schneersohn was paralyzed and required a wheelchair when he arrived in the United States in 1940. A building with an elevator needed to be purchased for his use as both a home and as a synagogue. After 770 was purchased, the synagogue was given the name "Congregation Lubavitch". The Crown Heights neighborhood was chosen as the air was felt to be better for the Rebbe's ailing health.

After Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok's demise in January, 1950, his son-in-law and successor - Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, 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. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok's wife, remained resident in her apartment on the 2nd floor until her passing. Her 2 daughters would often visit her in her apartment, and during her lifetime the new Rabbi would conduct semi- private meals there for the family and selected visitors on festive occasions. Today, the previous Rabbi's apartment and office are closed to the public. Since 1994, Rabbi Menachem Mendels's office on the first floor is used on Saturdays and Holidays as an additional prayer room which is 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.

As the Lubavitch movement grew in the United States, the original small synagogue was soon too small to house the growing number of worshipers and students who regularly 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 Schneerson laid the cornerstone for a larger renovation project which is yet to be completed.

The original building is part of a larger block maintained by the Agudas Chasidei Chabad. This block includes the larger synagogue, a Kollel, and the community's library. It also houses the offices of the secretariat of the Lubavitch Movement, and other related offices.

Besides being a synagogue, the site is considered especially holy, as it served as the home and offices of the last 2 Lubavitch Rebbes. It is visited by thousands of people from around the world every year. While the building is recognized as an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, it 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 the 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", although it is referred to by several other names throughout the worldwide Chabad community, including: "Beis Moshiach" ("Messiah's House"), the numerical value of 770, and "Beis Rabeinu Sheb'vovel" the "Babylonian" house of our teacher), [Ezekiel (11:16) says that during the exile, "I will be to them as a little Temple in the countries where they shall come". The Talmud (Megillah 29a) applies this verse to "the house of our master (Abba Arika) in Babylon". By extension, the Rebbe applies it here to 770.]

Because Lubavitch Chassidim attach great significance to everything that played a role in the Rebbe's life, Lubavitch Chassidim all over the world have built replicas or near-replicas of the building. These include replicas in Kefar Chabad and Jerusalem Israel; at Rutgers University on College Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ; on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, California; in Melbourne, Australia; Milan, Italy; Brazil and Argentina. Several artists have also created Tzedakah boxes and Mezuzah cases in the building's likeness. Joseph Zakon Wineries in New York City makes a wine called "Seven-seventy". Since the early 1990s, tefillin bags with an embroidered picture of seven-seventy [http://www.col.org.il/show_news.asp?26161] have become extremely popular among Lubavitcher Bar Mitzvah boys.

Importance of 770

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson described [Kuntres b'inyan mikdash m'at zeh bais rabeinu shbabavel", 5752, pg.465 ] 770 as "beis rabbenu shebevavel" (the "Babylonian" house of our teacher), [Ezekiel (11:16) says that during the exile, "I will be to them as a little Temple in the countries where they shall come". The Talmud (Megillah 29a) applies this verse to "the house of our master (Abba Arika) in Babylon". By extension, the Rebbe applies it here to 770.] "And we may explain, according the above, that as regards 'our teacher's Babylonian house' in this generation - it means the home and synagogue of my holy father-in-law, the leader of our generation... 'Our teacher's house' is the primary 'little Temple' in this last exile ... which is the place of the future Temple itself, and not only that, but there will be revealed the future Bais Hamikdash, and from there is will go to Jerusalem. This idea is suggested in the name of 'our teacher's house' in our generation: ... it is universally referred to by its number, 770, which has the same gematria as "paratzta" (you will spread out)." [A central Chabad motto is "and you shall spread to the west, the east, the north and the south" (Genesis 28:14)]

Zalman Jaffe was a lay leader in Manchester, England and had a very close relationship with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, in his book "My Encounter with the Rebbe", he relates that, "I found a Tehillim in 770 which, on the front piece, was inscribed, 'The gematria of Beis Moshiach (the house of Moshiach) is 770.' I showed it to the Rebbe who laughed heartily." [ [http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/260050/jewish/In-the-Rebbes-Presence.htm In the Rebbe’s Presence - Shavuos 5730 (1970) ] ]

To Chabad messianists 770 is even more important. According to Rabbi Yeshvam Segal, a mashpia in Kfar Chabad, "We believe that Lubavitch is Jerusalem, the 'Babylonian House of our Teacher' is the Temple, and the Rebbe is the Ark of the covenant standing on the Foundation Stone (for 'the righteous are the foundation of the world'), [Proverbs 10:25] in which the divine being and essence rests and is revealed. [ [http://www.hageula.com/print.php?CTopic=3&RowID=5&Maamar=deot Sichos HaGeula] ]

Full size replicas of 770 Eastern Parkway have been constructed in Kfar Chabad and in Jerusalem. [ "Building 770 in Kfar Chabad: Changing Israeli Landscapes: Buildings and the Uses of the Past", Alex Weingrod, Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Aug., 1993), pp. 370-387] Other replicas or near-replicas have been built in New Jersey, in Los Angeles, Melbourne, Milano, Rio and Buenos Aires.

Gallery

References

External links

* [http://770live.com/ Live Stream of 770 Shul and the Lubavitcher Yeshiva (Weekdays only)]
* [http://www.forward.com/articles/the-portable-legacy/ The Portable Legacy] The Forward, December 29 2006.
* [http://www.shmais.com/pages.cfm?page=photo_gallery&ID=191 A photo gallery of 770 replicas around the world, by Andrea Robbins and Max Becher]