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By Hatomim Magazine

1. IN THOSE DAYS…

Before 770 became the famous headquarters of Chabad it was the clinic of a local doctor. When the building was purchased in 5700/1940 it included only the three original floors of 770. To the left of 770 (where the big zal begins today) there was a parking area for ambulances. The incline in the floor which you see today to the west of the zal extended a bit further than it does today until the stairwell which leads from the basement level to the first floor. There were large doors in the western wall where the ambulances parked under the building.

When the building was purchased, people thought it would serve the needs of the Rebbe and his family and the small flock of Chassidim. Aside from the small sukka porch that was built on the second floor so that the Rebbe Rayatz wouldn’t have to go downstairs to eat in the sukka, nothing else was changed. The small group of Chassidim managed just fine with the small zal during farbrengens and tefillos.

Little by little a more spacious area became necessary. More people, even those who were not Lubavitchers, began attending the Rebbe’s farbrengens and the small zal was too small to contain them all. The need became more pressing already back in 5714, just three years after the Rebbe officially accepted the Chabad leadership.

They began using the old ambulance parking lot in the yard of the building where they davened and held small farbrengens. The big farbrengens of Yud-Tes Kislev, Yud Shevat and Purim were held in other halls in the Crown Heights area.

Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue in 5675 (1915), before 770 was built…

A new name was coined for the ambulance parking lot – shalash (parking lot in Yiddish). The shalash was a neglected area and they had to do a good job of fixing it up for farbrengens and tefillos. Those in charge fenced in the shalash on the northern and southern sides, in other words, on the sides facing Eastern Parkway and Union (where there was an exit to the yard); overhead they spread out a tarp, which was exchanged for schach on Sukkos. The area was a very makeshift, temporary sort of place.

Obviously, the conditions weren’t the best. In the winter months it was freezing. Because it was relatively low due to the incline, when it rained the shalash would turn into a mud puddle with the water sometimes reaching one’s knees! Sometimes, when the water had still not dried, they would make a special path for the Rebbe on benches over the water. The path extended until the Rebbe’s place in the southeast corner. You can imagine how the Chassidim felt when they crowded in for a farbrengen and it suddenly began to rain. Drops of water dripped through the tarp on their heads. The people would get wet from above and below.

On Simchas Torah 5718/1957, the Rebbe wanted to farbreng in the shalash but the Chassid R’ Yochanan Gordon told the Rebbe that downstairs it was “cold and dirty.” During the farbrengen, the Rebbe said that you need to learn a lesson in avodas Hashem from everything and the lesson from the gabbai saying that downstairs it was cold and dirty is that from Above they are telling us that after all the avoda of the month of Elul, Rosh Hashana, the Aseres Yemei Teshuva, Yom Kippur and Sukkos – here, in this world down below, it is cold and dirty.

Lubavitcher children playing in the shalash around the year 1943

2. THE FIRST EXPANSION: TRANSFORMING THE SHALASH

It was only at the end of 5719 that serious work began to turn the shalash into a permanent, regular structure, insulated from the rain, cold and wind.

Construction began before Rosh Hashana 5720/1959 and the Rebbe’s place was fixed, as usual, in the southeast corner. R’ Zalman Blesofsky built a special bima (platform) for the Rebbe to sit on during farbrengens. The bima was unique in that when it wasn’t in use it could be lifted up and folded against the wall, which left more room for people to sit.

On the bima, in the direction of Union Street was a window which was open and behind the Rebbe. During farbrengens the bachurim would use it and stand there in order to see the Rebbe, but after a brief time the Rebbe said the window should be closed.

The shalash structure ended where today there is a big pillar in the western part of 770.

One day, five nice chandeliers donated by the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka were hung in the Beis Medrash. Then, for ventilation they made special windows in the ceiling of the shalash, which was adequate under normal conditions, but during farbrengens etc. it was still overly warm.

At this point, with the Beis Medrash of 770 being finally a respectable structure that could contain hundreds of people, the large farbrengens were no longer held in various halls around the neighborhood, but rather they were held in 770. Rabbi Yehuda Blesofsky – who in those days was still a boy – describes the crowding and heat in the Beis Medrash during farbrengens:

“As a boy I would go up on the roof of the shalash where you could feel the heat rising up to the windows in the roof. We kids would throw leaves and the like through the windows and due to the heat vapors which rose from below, the leaves would rise and fall…”

That year, Rabbi Yaakov Lipsker (who years later became a gabbai in 770) built a platform for Krias HaTorah. The bima was made ready for Simchas Torah. Until that time, the platforms for Krias HaTorah were broken every year during Simchas Torah because of the crowding. This time, R’ Yankel built a bima that was made almost entirely of one piece and it was able to withstand the elements for about thirty years until 5749 when it was replaced.

The shul Erev Shabbos in the 60’s. In the center of the picture you can see the reading table that R’ Yankel Lipsker built. On the right is the Aron Kodesh.

3. THE SECOND EXPANSION

A man by the name of Aharon Klein lived in Crown Heights in those days. R’ Aharon Klein was born in Vienna to a family famous for its charitable deeds and for its lineage of great rabbis. When the winds of war began to blow in Europe, his parents immigrated to England and thus their lives were spared the cruel fate of their brothers who remained behind.

When England entered the war against the Nazis, security forces arrested all German citizens who lived in England as well as all those who spoke German. This was in order to make it difficult for the German Intelligence forces to find spies to work for them. The British did not differentiate between perpetrators and victims and even arrested Jews who were German born or who spoke German. That policy existed even though it was hard to imagine that a Jew would spy on behalf of those who sought to murder him. Those who were arrested were sent to detention camps in Canada.

R’ Aharon was arrested and sent to Canada. In the camp there were severe shortages of Jewish items such as siddurim and other religious books not to mention kosher food and a place to daven. Although R’ Aharon was not a Lubavitcher Chassid he sent a touching letter to the Rebbe Rayatz in which he asked the Rebbe to intervene on their behalf and help them in their plight.

The Rebbe Rayatz got involved and sent them various Jewish items. In addition, he sent a letter to the mashpia, R’ Shmuel Levitin who had been sent by the Rebbe at the end of Cheshvan 5702/1941 in order to help establish Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim in Montreal. In the letter, the Rebbe inquired as to the condition of the detainees in the camps and whether it was possible to learn with them.

A half a year later, around Pesach 5702/1942, some of the Jewish bachurim were released and they joined the new yeshiva in Montreal. They were joyfully welcomed by the bachurim-shluchim who were learning there and in honor of their release the Rebbe even sent a special letter in which he blessed them with a double mazal tov for their release and for their entering the yeshiva.

R’ Aharon learned in the yeshiva for a few years and then married his wife Zissel. They lived in Montreal for a few years and then moved to Crown Heights.

R’ Aharon loved Lubavitch in general and the Rebbe Rayatz and the Rebbe most of all. His wife said, “Lubavitch loved us and we love it.” R’ Aharon always looked for ways to help make the Rebbe happy. One year, he brought the Rebbe a menorah made of gold. He wrote to the Rebbe that he knew the Rebbe would not use it but a king needed something like this. Then R’ Aharon bought the Rebbe a gold cup with a gold plate that was worth about $7000 in those days! Some Lubavitchers wanted to join him in giving this gift but R’ Aharon refused. One year he offered the Rebbe in yechidus that he would head a certain fund raising appeal and the Rebbe accepted his offer and announced it at the following farbrengen.

The Rebbe reciprocated R’ Aharon’s great love. When R’ Aharon became sick, the Rebbe’s secretaries called his house nearly every day to ask how he was, on the Rebbe’s behalf. The Rebbe also sent his doctor to examine R’ Aharon.

At the beginning of the 60’s, Jews began fleeing Crown Heights. Until then, Crown Heights had been a major religious neighborhood but because other elements began buying houses in the neighborhood, Jews left for Williamsburg, Boro Park and Flatbush. The Rebbe urged people to stay in Crown Heights but the mass flight continued.

R’ Aharon looked despairingly at those who left. He knew that if Crown Heights were to remain a Lubavitch headquarters in the years to come, and if Jews were to be able to move about freely, they had to do something to enlarge and consolidate Jewish control around 770. This base would give Jews the fortitude to remain in the neighborhood, enabling them to move about freely and securely. He envisioned Crown Heights growing and expanding and it was clear to him that 770 had to be expanded for the growing numbers of Chassidim.

At that time the buildings 784 and 788 on Eastern Parkway were residential dwellings in which Jews lived alongside blacks. One day, R’ Aharon had yechidus and he brought up the idea of enlarging 770 until Kingston Avenue. The Rebbe asked: Are you sure we will need such a big shul?

R’ Aharon answered confidently: You will need it even bigger than that.

R’ Aharon bought 784 and 788 in the winter of 5725 with the money coming directly from the Rebbe. The Rebbe did not want additional partners in the purchase of the buildings since he did not want more “balabatim” (people in charge) of 770. The Rebbe agreed to accept payments from only one person and that was Aharon Klein.

R’ Aharon bought the buildings under his own name and not under the name of the “Building Committee” that worked to expand 770. The reason for this isn’t clear and there are various versions: One says that the bank would not lend such a large sum of money to a shul because it did not have the proper guarantees for such a large loan. R’ Aharon, who ran a number of organizations such as Colel Chabad in America, was probably more well-known in banking circles and this is why he bought the buildings under his name. Another version says that this was the Rebbe’s decision since the Rebbe did not want illegalities – which take place with nearly all construction – to be officially under Chabad’s name. In any case, R’ Aharon bought the buildings under his name and sold them afterwards to Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch.

R’ Aharon, who had this difficult job, began working diligently to achieve the goal of expanding 770 into the underground level of the adjacent buildings as quickly as possible. By nature he was a methodical person and he did not tolerate delays and inaccuracies in even the smallest details. When he took on any task he worked to complete it down to the last details.

From the moment he started the work, R’ Aharon was completely immersed in it so that even his wife complained to the Rebbe that since the building began she hardly saw her husband. The Rebbe once met R’ Aharon at the construction site and said to him: When I come from my house I see you here and when I go back home I see you here. When do you sleep and eat?

After R’ Aharon bought the buildings in the beginning of 5725, he began preparing for the renovations. The first and biggest problem was the tenants! In order to begin renovations, they had to get the tenants out of their apartments. The law protects tenants and it is hard to remove them from their homes against their will. So R’ Aharon had a lot of work to do in convincing the tenants to leave. Some did leave immediately, others left only after being convinced of the importance in doing so or after being paid to leave, while some refused to leave. They liked their location and had no interest in leaving.

R’ Aharon waited with due patience until the last minute but then he did not hesitate to use some original methods to do what he had to do and expand 770 as the Rebbe wished. In one instance, he experienced an open miracle from the Rebbe:

It was the end of 5727, after nearly two nerve-wracking years in which R’ Aharon did all he could do to persuade the tenants to leave. He spared no effort or money and ultimately prevailed with most of the tenants leaving. They began the preparatory work on the first floor of the building (the level where the Ezras Nashim is today).

One tenant, a black man, insisted on staying in his apartment on the first floor, thus delaying the construction. One day, when the tractor was clearing the area next to the man’s apartment, R’ Aharon directed it slowly but surely towards the wall of the apartment. Another little bit and another little bit until the tractor scoop broke into the man’s wall. The man, whose reason for staying in the apartment was gone, packed up his things and moved that same day.

21 Tamuz 5721/1961: A farbrengen in the shalash for guests who came from England on the first charter flight. In this picture you can see the improvised windows – wooden frames with plastic curtains, which were put up temporarily until regular windows were installed

A few days later, R’ Aharon received a summons from the court. The man was suing him in court. R’ Aharon knew he didn’t stand a chance since he had blatantly broken the law that protects tenants and he was liable to be penalized to the full extent of the law. Nevertheless, he decided not to tell the Rebbe so as not to aggravate him. But you can’t hide from the Rebbe and one day, when the Rebbe was on his way home, he met R’ Aharon near the construction site. The Rebbe said that he could tell that something was amiss. R’ Aharon told the Rebbe about what happened and said he did not see any way out. The Rebbe told him – go to court and don’t look for a lawyer, just represent yourself. Admit whatever you are accused of and then make one request of the judge, that since you are a Jew and the Jewish month of holidays is coming up, you would like to postpone the carrying out of the sentence until after Tishrei.

This was an obscure and surprising instruction but R’ Aharon did precisely as he was told. He represented himself in court and before the sentencing he made his request of the judge. The judge approved his request and not only postponed the carrying out of the sentence but the sentence itself.

The sentencing was postponed and postponed until this very day!

Bachurim banging the cement wall with a pipe

4. 5727: THE POWER OF BACHURIM

After all the apartments were vacated and after they had razed the entire first floor of 784 which was closer to 770, R’ Aharon began looking for contractors who would accept the job of expanding the Beis Medrash. In the meantime, the plan was to expand only under the building closest to 770 while 788 was used, for the meanwhile, for bachurim from the yeshiva and a number of Lubavitcher families.

On 26 Av 5727/1967 R’ Aharon wrote a report to the Rebbe with an update:

Enclosed is another eighteen [dollars] for the expansion of the Beis Medrash in 770, which one way or another should be finished by the upcoming Rosh Hashana. Since, as it is now, the Beis Medrash is very crowded and Anash deserve to have a more spacious Beis Medrash.

Of all the estimates that I received to date there is only one who is interested enough in the construction that if they sign a contract with him now, he is ready to get to work next week and will work under the constant supervision of an architect and he is willing to sign an agreement that our lawyer will draft and offer every guarantee.

Next Sunday, 28 Av, another two contractors will be here who will give estimates.

The Rebbe’s answer was written on the margins of the note: 2 receipts [for two times chai, one for the construction and one for something else.] I will mention it at the gravesite for success.

Three days later, on Rosh Chodesh Elul 5727/1926, R’ Aharon wrote another report to the Rebbe from which we see how matters progressed:

On Sunday another two contractors were here regarding expanding the Beis Medrash. One said it would take three months and the other one said it would take six to eight weeks. They cannot begin until after Rosh Hashana and the cost is from $70,000-$80,000.

The only contractor who promised to begin construction immediately and also promises that we can daven there on Rosh Hashana, who is also interested in doing the work and accepts penalties if he does not keep his promises – says that if we want it ready for Rosh Hashana we must decide today or tomorrow. (He is Italian). The cost, he says, will be about $65,000 including supervision by an engineer.

Aharon Moshe ben Perel Klein

The Rebbe jotted his response in the letter itself. Regarding what he wrote that the contractor was willing to undertake the construction, the Rebbe noted: If he has a good reputation in his field, and the engineer likewise, look into his offer.

Regarding what he wrote that the contractor agreed to accept any penalties if he did not fulfill his obligations the Rebbe wrote: Surely in an official manner.

As to the contractor’s nationality: Surely he knows not to work on Shabbos etc.

It’s hard to know precisely but it seems that they made an agreement with this contractor.

The construction began during the first days of Elul 5727 and the contractor worked extremely quickly so that the nearly impossible could be accomplished – finishing the work within a month and preparing the expanded Beis Medrash for tefillos that Rosh Hashana. Just for comparison’s sake, when you do renovations in the typical home it takes a few months and this was a very large area under somewhat complicated construction conditions – working in a basement of the existing building. Completing the work in that amount of time was utterly unrealistic.

In order to understand what happened during construction, it’s important to describe what 770 looked like before it was expanded. It looked as follows:

The shalash was described above. As shown in the diagram in the box, between the shalash and building 784 there is a pathway on the sidewalk level (4). The path was above the level of the wall that bordered the shalash (2). The shalash itself is below sidewalk level. Then there are two buildings 784 and 788 that are attached underground, but at street level they are separated into two. On the side of 788 facing Kingston were stores that faced the street.

Whoever wants to see for himself the progression of the expansion within 770 can mark it based on the pillars in the big zal. In 770 there are three pillars that line up the length of the zal. These are the biggest, thickest pillars among the pillars in 770. The first pillar is in the back of 770 and it marks the end of the area of the shalash and the beginning of 784. The next two pillars are towards the front of 770. The second pillar (in the middle) is the end of 784. The space between this pillar and the next pillar is the space between the buildings that existed then. From the third pillar and on is 788.

Bachurim looking at the results of their labor

In the first stage of construction it was necessary to dig from the first floor of the two buildings until under their basements in order to create an area with a high ceiling. The second stage entailed breaking the walls separating between the shalash and 784 and then renovating the basement of 784 to serve as a prayer hall. The company that began working in Elul 5727 began the preparatory work on 784. Lubavitchers from that time remember the tefillos that took place in the shalash with blockades on the eastern side to separate people from the construction site. The work was done quickly and it seemed as though it would in fact be ready by Rosh Hashana.

Then the problems set in. When the workers tried breaking the wall that bordered the shalash, they discovered a huge wall, three feet thick, made of cement fortified with iron (2). The length of the wall was the width of the entire shalash – 20 meters! Breaking a wall this size and strength took a long time and the conclusion of the construction was delayed time and again.

Rosh Hashana had passed and Chassidim were unable to daven with the Rebbe in the new zal, and there was no end in sight. The delays got on the nerves of the residents of Crown Heights, especially those of the bachurim who looked forward to the moment when they could daven in the spacious shul as the Rebbe wanted it to be.

The demolition of the massive wall finally ended a little before Sukkos 5727. Those keeping on eye on the construction breathed a sigh of relief. At least by Sukkos the new Beis Medrash would be ready. But they were disappointed once again. The workers discovered that the wall of 784 was not an ordinary wall but was also thick and strong and much of it contained iron. This wall served as a support to the western side of 784. In order to break it without weakening the building they needed guidance from an engineer. Although it wasn’t as intimidating a wall as the previous one, it was still significant. The overseer of the work (who was a religious Jew) said they could not finish breaking the wall that day and could do so only at a later opportunity. Nevertheless, the workers began breaking a little bit of the wall (about the width of two doors and the upper part) and then gathered their tools and left.

Anash and the bachurim understood the following – the following night was Yom Tov and the workers would only be able to do a little bit; they certainly would not finish breaking the wall. On Chol HaMoed no work would be done. So the work would not resume until after Simchas Torah. In other words, the entire month of Tishrei was lost. The bachurim walked around the construction site in frustration, glaring at the huge wall that thwarted their great joy over a new shul.

Then one of the bachurim had a brainstorm. “Why can’t we break the wall ourselves?”

His friends looked at him as though he was crazy. “Who, us? Without tools and without professional guidance you think we can accomplish in a few hours what the workers say will take a few days?”

The bachur did not back down. He took a big pipe that was meant to be used for the heating system. It was supposed to extend from the basement until the fourth floor, which is why it was long and very heavy. It took several bachurim to lift it. They went up on the bima for Krias HaTorah (in the shalash (3)) and banged with the pipe against the wall in the place where the workers had already begun demolition. The wall moved a little and a few rocks fell to the ground.

The bachurim hooted happily. Within seconds the bachurim had turned into a contracting company. They banged against the wall again and again while others piled up the rocks that fell and loaded them onto wheelbarrows. Others emptied the wheelbarrows outside. The work continued apace and their enthusiasm rose with every rock that fell to the ground. The work continued all night and although some bachurim were injured slightly they just focused on the work at hand.

Slowly but surely the huge wall gave way. Towards morning the exhausted bachurim looked at what they accomplished. 748 and the shalash had become one building. They would be able to daven with the Rebbe in the new Beis Medrash! They completely ignored the fact that 784 was suspended in the air (remember, they had planned on taking down the wall only after consulting with engineers). They didn’t care that the floors of the two buildings were not level and that the entire Beis Medrash was filthy and covered with dust. The main thing was having a Beis Medrash. They moved the Rebbe’s bima and the Aron Kodesh to the new eastern wall. And only then did they go off for a nap before Yom Tov began.

That is how the second expansion of 770 ended. When the workers showed up the next day, Erev Yom Tov, they couldn’t believe their eyes. The big wall from yesterday was no longer there! Not much remained to be done. They placed a ramp to connect the floor of the shalash with the floor of 784 and cleaned the place up. As Yom Tov began, Anash waited excitedly for the Rebbe to enter. It was the first time the Rebbe would be visiting the new Beis Medrash.

Farbrengen of Vov Tishrei 5731. You can notice in this photo how 770 reaches only until the back wall of 788

A few minutes before Mincha the crowd hushed and the Rebbe came down from his room and entered the large zal. He moved quickly to his new place as he glanced about him and one could see the great happiness on his face. Anash relate that the Rebbe “walked and walked and walked” until he reached his place. They were not yet accustomed to the size of the new zal. It seemed the Rebbe had a very long walk to reach his place.

On Simchas Torah of that year there was still dust throughout the building, which is why everybody left the Hakafos with white pants.

One of the bachurim said that in the apartments of 778 that were near 784 you could clearly hear the Rebbe’s voice through the walls.

Yet along with all the simcha the Rebbe also saw the great danger in taking away a vital part of the building without preparing replacement supports. Anash say that the next day, at the farbrengen, the Rebbe sat in his regular place, which was close to the break between the two buildings and during the farbrengen the Rebbe frequently looked at the break where you could literally see that the building would collapse. The Rebbe’s face looked extremely serious.

22 Elul 5729 (1969): The Rebbe inserts Sefer Torah from Tunisia into the Aron Kodesh built by Reb Yankel Lipsker

The very next day they put thick iron beams in to strengthen the building so it wouldn’t collapse.

After Yom Tov, R’ Yankel Lipsker brought wood and constructed four wooden benches which he donated to 770. Shortly after the construction was completed, he decided to build a new Aron Kodesh for the Rebbe’s shul. He asked the Rebbe whether he could build the Aron into the wall and the Rebbe said no.

R’ Yankel brought a worker who built the wooden frame of the Aron and then he did the rest of the artistic work himself with the help of his son Zalman, who is today one of the gabbaim of the shul. That is how the Aron Kodesh of 770 was built and it graces the eastern wall till this day.

Throughout the construction and expansion R’ Aharon Klein was on the scene, putting his heart and soul into the work and hardly returning home. There is no doubt that R’ Aharon’s mesirus nefesh (self sacrifice) stood by him and all the Chassidim to expand 770 – Beis Rabbeinu She’b’Bavel – Beis Moshiach – in a way that it would be “praised, renowned and glorious,” as the Rebbe put it in a letter to him, as a nachas ruach to the Rebbe.

***

LARGE SCALE ACTIVITY

770, as most people know, is not one of those synagogues that is spotless and gleaming, as in the manner of other large synagogues in America. Additionally, the constant foot traffic, events and farbrengens, make the job of basic maintenance that much more challenging (although every effort is made to try to keep it respectable).

The story is told of a high-ranking Jewish judge in New York, who came with his father to visit 770. When the two of them entered it happened to be not long after a major farbrengen, and the place looked pretty much as you would expect. Benches were piled on top of each other, tables were strewn about, and people were running around in all directions. The two who were used to gleaming and lustrous Reform “temples” were stunned.

Suddenly, the judge turned to his father and said, “You can see that this is no ordinary synagogue. This is a place of large scale activity…”

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