Electric Service Illegally Restored to ‘749’ Dormitory

Recently, after admitting that they finally “lost complete control” over the 749 Eastern Parkway dormitory, the United Lubavitcher Yeshiva administration decided to pay off the electric bill and close the account with Con-Edison. A few weeks later, the electrical service was physically disconnected, and the power was off for nearly a week – until Sunday night.

Con-Ed workers arrived at 749 Eastern Parkway on December 14th to remove the meters, only to be refused entry into the building. Instead, workers opened up the manhole in front of the building and cut the main cables.

749 remained dark for nearly a week, and around 20 dorm residents – most of whom are not registered yeshiva students – camped out in the downstairs Shul of 770.

Late Sunday night, December 20th, at around 2:30am, the lights briefly flickered on in 749. By the next morning, power had been fully restored to the Mikvah, and all the electrical panels in the building had been padlocked with signs stating that the electric was restored and demanding payments of $150 to $350 from each room depending on size.

Witnesses said that in the dead of night, at around 2:30am, two cars were placed around the manhole while they worked to illegally reconnect the cut service.

On Monday morning, a large Con-Ed crew arrived once again at 749 – presumably in response to reports about the illegally reconnected service – and made the shocking discovery that not only was the electricity reconnected, but that it had been done in an extremely unsafe manner, putting many lives at risk.

CrownHeights.info reached out to Con-Ed’s media relations department for comment, but no response was given at time of publication.

Stolen Gas Service

In 2014, following a fight between building residents and Mendy Hendel over use of the Mikvah, Hendel was ousted as administrator and the Mikvah was repeatedly vandalized. In response, Hendel closed the gas bill with National Grid and the meters were removed.

Months later, Hendel was informed that there was still heat and hot water in the Mikvah and reported this to National Grid. Upon inspection, they discovered that the gas was hooked up illegally by circumventing the closed-off pipes. In response, they shut the gas service off at the street level.

The Yeshiva then reached out to National Grid, informing them that no one has the right to restore the service without their permission.

Nevertheless, Levi Kabakov, a student who was expelled from the Yeshiva some four years ago, went and opened an account in his name, and National Grid restored gas service. Afterwards, they demanded from the Yeshiva – as the building owners – payment of $9,500 for the illegally obtained gas.

Residents told CrownHeights.info that Kabakov is the one behind the restoration of the electric service, and that they had to pay him for restoring electricity to the individual rooms. Kabakov is also allegedly the one who – until last week – was charging and collecting fees from residents for use of the Mikvah.

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5
One of the padlocked electrical panels.
6
Electrical tape used to illegally reconnect the cut wires.
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Lights on in the 749 Mikva on Monday morning.
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Lights on in the 749 Mikva on Monday morning.
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Letter demanding money from each room in order to turn on their electric.

42 Comments

  • blood

    if anyone c”v dies from carbon monoxide poisoning, or from a fire with all those dangerous electric heaters they are using, the fault will be on the head of the yeshiva board for not going in there and making a seder once and for all.

    ENOUGH!

    HOW MUCH DOES THIS COMMUNITY NEED TO SUFFER FROM THIS MAFIA OF HOOLIGANS???

  • disappointed

    for starters what the yeshiva & con edison did were illegal in the first place con- edison is not allowed to a turn off serice without a Judgement from the street etc. & b not allowed to do it during the heating season ditto for national Grid.On the part of the yeshia they are also not allowed to leae the students without elctric, heat & hot water. If its tru that the Bcahurim are paying tuition then it is Gezailah The fact that the Hanhola claims they lost control is embarrasing by itself should have never happened & prove sits time for at least some additions if not a total replacement pf the Hanholah. That being said the ilegal connections are also the hanholahs fault they brought the situation upon themselves Bachirm that are not learning in the yeshiva should & must be expelled Control must immediately be retsored The big questionis where are the Rabbonim in all this? Thisis a Crown Heights issue & Both Rabbonim must untie over this ( excluding Braun because he is not a Rav.He has publivly flaunted & embararsed Ra Osdoba & that alone is grounds besides the fact that he has never shown his actual Teudas Smicha etc.) There are other dayanim in Ch & all should get together & put their foot down to both sides lay diown the law.If either side cannot abide then on the Bachurim part they must immediately be expelled & The Hanholah must be replaced including with inmy opinion 2 new Members who will be in charge of overseeing & making sure that those who do not belong are out those who are enrolled must be in Seder, Thatthere is a proper functioning & administartion of the Mikvah etc. Simply answering the Bcahrim are solely at fault or don’t say yechi etc.is unhelpful. In any company if a person or persons aren’t getting the job done right they are fired. this needs to happen here as well.! anyone who is in the dorm & is not a bachur learning in Yeshiva must be evicted right away legally

  • disgusted

    Blood & others why are you only blaming one side? It is the fault of both sides. The Hanhola is clearly unable to take control to do what is necessary fire them! Hooligans or not if they can’t do the job do what i s necessary & right then bring in people that can. If you run a business would you tolerate all this? obviously not? Either do the job righttake control or get out of the way for someone who can & will its that simple! enough lashon Harah & blaming one side! both sides are at fault! don’t Blmae 1 person for doing what he had to it wasd Pikuach Nefesh you cannotlive without heat hotwater & lights/ electric!

  • משה פינסון

    זה לא צחוק, זה פיקוח נפש
    הבניין הזה, שהפך להיות מאורת טרור, ומחסנים של נשק אלכוהול וסמים, של גורמים עבריינים ובוגרי צבא שירדו מהארץ, צריך להיסגר על מנעול ובריח.
    זה בניין ששייך לישיבה של הרבי, ואסור שתהיה שם שום פעילות חבלנית או עבריינית, זה חילול השם וגרימת עוגמת נפש לרבי.
    הגיע הזמן שהנהלת הישיבה תפסיק להיות פחדנית ותעשה מעשים, אנ”ש והתמימים והורי התלמידים מחכים לזה הרבה זמן.
    ואותו קבקוב שנשמע כמו מפיונר ששולט על החשמל והגז, והמקווה ועוד כל מיני דברים משונים בבניין צריך לעוף משם לכל הרוחות, וגם אחיו מהשכרת הרכבים הלא חוקית.

  • Proper Eviction

    I’m sad to say but it looks like the Yeshiva will need to hire attorneys in order to evict all the people living there illegally. They will need a judge’s order to change the locks and install a proper entry system. Maybe something bio-metric so that people who don’t belong there don’t move in.

    • CR

      These residents do not respect the “goysche” law nor, lehavdil, the psak of “that bezdin”. No amount of court judgments, orders or “dinei torah” will suffice. A dead-of-night visit by Tookie, Flip-Flap and Tiny, who operate a “security service” in an abandoned building near E. New York and Rochester Aves. may be needed to remedy the situation permanently.

  • yosel

    i think they should become electricians plumbers car mechanics and go work and rent there own places or give them diplomas to go study and earn a real living if their not going for shlichus lets se if college dormitories let them in

  • Mordy

    A day after electricity was cut off, these idiots brought generators in their rooms. Many woke up with headaches and had to go to the hospital.

    Their luck is that they didn’t sleep long and the windows were open. Otherwise, there would have been body bags.

    The place was loaded with carbon monoxide.

    The fault would have been on the idiots (meshichistim), who are of age (adults).

    • Shovel your Snow

      No they would not be at fault because they are “idiots(meshichistim)”

      And being “of age(adult)” is no excuse for a landlord’s failure to lookout for the safety of his tenants.

    • Milhouse

      They are not tenants, they are squatters. The building owner has no responsibility to them at all.

    • Awacs

      Almost correct, Milhouse – the only duty owed to a squatter is NOT to set hidden traps.

  • Don't Understand

    What does it mean that they lost complete control of 749? Did they hire a guard to oversee who enters? Did they padlock the doors? Did they rescind all student visas? Did they send the students back to Israel or wherever they are from? I know I make it sound easy but there must be a solution in spite of political issues.

    • Insanity

      Does the Hanhala read these comments? Are they aware that normal people have zero respect for them, even my old friend Rabbi Zarchi? Why can’t they just padlock the building, brick up the windows and be done with it? Why do they keep doing the same thing over & over again? Do they expect a different result? That is INSANITY.

      No more kvutsa, no more visas, no more thugs and mosrim. ENOUGH ALREADY!

  • Friend

    Still beyond my comprehension – that community askanim foot the bill and bail out the criminals. I use the word advisedly. HaLevai these do-gooders would pay utility bills for upstanding residents of Crown Heights who do not have the funds to pay their utility bills.
    כל המרחם על אכזריים סופו מתאכזר על.

    • CHLEAKS.COM

      When it becomes known who bailed them out, those people will feel the hammer of justice!!!

  • a bochur

    such a chilul hashem. when will ch wake up and realize that these tzfatim are coming to ch and making a huge chilul hashem and a huge chilul lubavitch?! Stop supporting them until they realize that they must behave.

  • Milhouse

    Does anyone else remember the contracts bachurim used to have to sign before moving in to 749? The hanhala was determined that 749 would not become the anarchy that 1414 had become, with bachurim passing their rooms on to their younger brothers, and establishing multi-year chazakos, and installing phones and who knows what else, etc. No, 749 would be run as a model dorm, under full control of the yeshivah, and nobody could move in without signing a contract acknowledging that the yeshivah is in complete charge and they must keep the room in good order, not allow anyone else to sleep there, not make any changes, and move out when told to. I wonder how long that lasted.

    • K

      Would these ancient contracts incorporate all the dinim associated with a halachic shtar including the halachic (and L’havdil the secular) requirement of a consideration for the creation of an obligation, a kinyan etc.? Were the conditions set out in both positive performance and negative (t’nei koful)?

    • Milhouse

      K, none of those things are required, under Jewish or secular law. Under both laws הודאת בעל דין כמאה עדים. The bochur starts out with no rights, and acknowledges that merely being allowed to sleep in a room does not give him any rights. End of story. I wonder how long it took that system to collapse.

  • Yossi A

    To # 7
    Kubakov & co don’t care one bit if the locks are changed.
    They’ll bust the locks in a mila second.

    To # 11
    Kubakov has a USA passport you cant deport him.
    He lives off your tax dollars by collecting $200 every month from food stamps.

  • K

    “Yehi Or – Vayehi Or” – “Let there be light and there was light.”

    Say Yehi and Vayehi every day – and it will bring Or.

    • Kop Doktar

      Wait a minute – how does saying Yehi (or Vayehi) bring Or??? You don’t make any sense!!!!!

    • Toshov Hashchuna

      That is his point! That saying “Yechi” brings Moshiach just as saying “Yehi” brings Or. Get it?

    • Milhouse

      Maybe he means יהי ה׳ אלקינו עמנו and ויהי אחר הדברים האלה, which we say every morning. (Though since K probably davens nusach Ashkenaz, which doesn’t say יהי ה׳ אלקינו עמנו, perhaps he means יהי כבוד ה׳ לעולם.)

  • Zalmy Schapiro

    Didan Notzach Didan Notzach I am very happy that the lights are back on I’m sorry to inform some of the comments from now and previous comments couple of days ago who say not nice things against Israeli Chavra I totally disagree but what I do agree is of course they cannot be sleeping in 770 it is a Shul not sleeping area but you have to understand they are also Lubaivcher as well there are no two parties the Chavra who come from Israel they belong in the Crown Heights Community 770 belongs to all of us doesn’t matter if you’re from France Paris Israelis Europe America 770 is for all of us The Rebbe loves every single Jew again I am very happy the lights went back on I continue doing a lot of learning and a lot of success

    • Milhouse

      770 does not belong to you or to “all of us”. 770 belongs to Aguch and the extension belongs to Merkos. They bought it and their names are on the deed, and nobody has the right to be there without their permission.

    • K

      Following the “logic” [I paraphrase Milhouse’s comment] …and the Bais Hamikdosh did not belong to you or to “all of us”. The Bais Hamikdosh belonged to the Gizbar who bought it (by paying the workers for their labor and material), and nobody has the right to be there without the Gizbar’s permission. – Does that make sense? No! So where is the flaw? The Bais Hamikdosh (and 770) was built with community money and therefre belongs to the community. Certain people are appointed to manage the communal property but it is not a private asset or one held by a small group of people to use as they wish.

    • Donnald Trump

      Yeah, Milhouse, and America is only for Whites, no Muslim has the right to be there without their permission.

      Let’s kick’m all outta there

  • friend

    as far as i know these particular bochurim do not pay tuition and are not registered as students in 770. they are just occupying the building which they “took over”

  • ymg

    I’m trying to think of something good about this………………………….. …. … ….

  • Donnald Trump

    Maybe if we’d have on ounce of hospitality they’d then not have to fend for themselves and resort to taking matters into their own hands

  • לידעת כולם

    לוי קבקוב מוכר סיגריות ואלכוהל (וודקה ובירות) וגם הוא המנהל של המקווה הגנוב
    הוא מרוויח בחודש כ5,000$ נקי לכיס שלו

  • Guy in the know

    “To the best of my knowledge these ppl are all terrorists”
    Burn down the place.
    They are all working in manhattan and don’t learn in 770!
    1414 this would never happen!
    Now the real story.
    749 houses both tzfati meshichst as well as kfar chabadi non meshichist bochrim.
    Most of these people opted to stay in 770 after kvutzah just because they were interested in being part of 770. A large percentage of them are currently studying for smicha and one flag wearing bochur has passed a few dayanus tests in the past year.
    No sane person who works for a living would want to stay in an overcrowded building that doesn’t have heating. (Yup, that’s right. There is NO heating system in the building for many years and rooms rely solely on electric heaters. )
    The hanhala has never claimed they don’t want the majority of the current residents to leave. On the contrary, they have submitted a long list of names to the vaad hagashmi of ppl they would like to see taken care of in the building.
    It is true that there are some ppl in the building who act in ways contrary to what would be expected of a bochur in tomchei tmimim but those are a very small minority.
    To set the record straight about 1414.
    The bicycles in front of the building are obviously not meant to ride to 770, a block away.
    Local frum car services and the OK and all the matzah bakeries and many non religion related businesses employ 1414 kvutza kids. But that is no one’s business. The hanhalah is very much aware of that and is perfectly ok with it. They know that if these boys wouldn’t be here they would go to the army and leave yiddishkeit.
    The phenomenon of ppl renting out their beds during their absence happens in 1414 too.
    A European bochur who got a job in a yeshiva out of town was renting out his bed to a NY bochur who was not registered in yeshiva last year. During the ARTS inspection last year that lead to a potentially disastrous situation when they asked the boy for his name and it was revealed that he wasn’t registered in yeshiva but claimed to stay in the building….
    Just some info not everyone in the community is aware of.