75th Anniversary of 770’s Purchase

Yesterday, August 16, marks 75 years since the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe bought the building of 770 Eastern Parkway, which subsequently became the headquarters – and a symbol – of the Chabad movement.

From Haaretz:

On August 16, 1940, Agudas Chasidei Chabad – the umbrella organization uniting all the components of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement – purchased 770 Eastern Parkway, the Crown Heights, Brooklyn, structure that now serves as its world headquarters, and a universally recognized symbol of Chabad. So profoundly did 770, as it is known among followers, become identified in the decades that followed with the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, the late, revered Menachem Mendel Schneerson, that at least 15 replicas of the structure have been built in Chabad communities around the world.

The Gothic Revival structure, which wouldn’t look out of place as a classroom building or fraternity house on an American college campus, was originally built as an apartment building in the 1930s. The ground floor was given over to medical offices.

In 1940, a concerted campaign led to the rescue from Nazi-occupied Warsaw of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the sixth rebbe (1880-1941). He was brought to the United States and the building was bought to serve as his residence and as a synagogue. Because the rebbe was incapacitated, the building had to have an elevator installed so he could get from his apartment on the second floor to the shul, on the ground floor.

Click here to continue reading at Haaretz.

6 Comments

  • Jewish date

    The day is 12 Menachem Av, why bring the goyishe date for the anniversary of 770?

  • Old Timer

    The article has many facts that are not correct.

    The building was built with an elevator. It was difficult for the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe to move, so Chabad searched and found a building to serve as a residence and a synagogue that has an elevator to make easier for the Rebbe. Also, the building (770) was built as an office/clinic and residence for a private doctor. 784 and 788 Eastern Parkway were adjacent apartment buildings, and were totally detached from 770. The buildings were bought many years later to create a large synagogue.

  • V’Nahapoch Hu

    A great light replaced the darkness.

    This clinic was known for doing procedures, which, except to save the mother’s life, would be morally wrong. In fact, it was illegal at the time.

    A few Lubavitcher Yeshivos also did similar:
    Morristown used to be a Catholic convent for runaways, another yeshiva used to be a “motel.”

  • chaim fishman

    the building was bought by agudas CHASSIDIE CHABAD rabbi shloime aharon kazarnovsky gave over the keys to the freidiker rebbe on 12 av.