13 members of a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood have been arraigned on Wednesday on prices stemming from a January incident through which a wall inside a well-known Brooklyn synagogue was broken by younger males wielding a hammer and crowbar — setting off a melee that was captured on video.
The 13 individuals, all younger males, pleaded not responsible in State Supreme Courtroom in Brooklyn to prices that ranged from legal mischief to obstructing governmental administration. One other 4 defendants have been absent as a result of they have been in Israel, in keeping with their lawyer, Levi Huebner.
Justice Adam Perlmutter ordered the defendants, a lot of whom are from Israel, to show over their passports. He denied prosecutors’ request to ban the younger males from the synagogue, on Jap Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, which is the place they each worship and research.
The synagogue is part of a fancy of buildings which can be centered by a gothic revival construction at 770 Jap Parkway and is the worldwide headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch motion. Known as 770, it is without doubt one of the most important non secular websites in New York.
In accordance with Mr. Huebner, many of the defendants got here to New York from Israel to check the Torah and the teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, often called the Rebbe.
The Rebbe, who died in 1994, is taken into account to be the messiah by many within the Lubavitch motion, and through his lifetime he known as for the enlargement of the synagogue, which is packed sardine-like each day with worshipers from world wide. The squeeze on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays is much more excessive.
In January, after information reviews revealed {that a} area adjoining to the synagogue had been secretly excavated, the constructing house owners known as for cement vans to fill the area. Earlier than they might, some college students broke via the wall between the dug-out area and the synagogue, the police mentioned. They appeared in video footage being cheered by fellow college students as they have been arrested.
“They did it to broaden 770 and make it larger,” a person who gave his title as Zalmy Grossman mentioned in January. “They’ve come to meet the rebbe’s needs.”
Not one of the younger males charged within the January incident are accused of excavating the passage exterior the sanctuary.
Metropolis inspectors and the media referred to the excavated area as a “tunnel,” a characterization which many within the Lubavitch motion say maligns and casts unstated suspicions upon the insular neighborhood.
Town’s Buildings Division closed down components of 770 to research the harm and issued two citations for the excavation, which was performed with out correct permits. By the tip of the week, the excavated area had been crammed with cement, and metropolis inspectors allowed the synagogue to open once more.
On the listening to on Wednesday, the indicted males wore conventional Lubavitch costume of darkish fits and skullcaps, inserting their massive black fedoras on their laps as they sat within the courtroom. Most ranged in age from 18 to 21, and few spoke English fluently.
Mendel Gerlitzky, who was arraigned on prices of legal mischief and reckless endangerment, was raised in Brooklyn and prays at 770 thrice a day. Whereas a lot of his fellow defendants declined to remark, Mr. Gerlitzky didn’t hesitate to attract consideration. On the lapel of his black swimsuit, he wore a pin within the form of a shovel. It featured a tiny etching of the synagogue and the phrases “broaden 770.”
Mr. Gerlitzky mentioned that the media and regulation enforcement, emboldened by the Chabad leaders at 770, have exaggerated the influence of the January incident. “The entire story has been blown out of proportion,” he mentioned, including that many individuals within the Crown Heights neighborhood favor an enlargement of 770, even when they don’t condone excavations accomplished with out permits.
Contacted for remark, Rabbi Motti Seligson, a spokesman for the Chabad-Lubavitch motion, mentioned, “Violence and destruction are anathema to all the pieces the Rebbe taught. We pray that they see the error of their methods.”