What Are The 'Jewish Tunnels' All About? The Chabad Synagogue's Secret Tunnels And Its Memes Explained

Brooklyn had a chaotic Monday night. In a scene straight out of a movie, a riot broke out inside a synagogue in New York City as a group of students tried to stop a secret tunnel from being filled in by the NYPD Police and a construction crew.

What started as a resident hearing sounds in his walls, evolved to at least 10 people arrested and a bizarre viral video of a Hasidic man crawling out from a secret sewer tunnel. We have a lot to unpack about the Chabad Synagogue Tunnels story, so here's what you need to know and why there are so many memes about them going around.

What Were The Tunnels Made For And What Did They Look Like?

On January 8th, 2024, a couple of videos gained online notoriety showing the interiors of the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, being torn apart after it was revealed some underground tunnels were dug by Chabad students in their late teens and twenties.

The X page @FrumTikTok was one of the earliest to upload content about the incident (seen below), showing a chaotic scene "after Bochurim ripped wooden panels to prevent a cement truck from sealing off the recently discovered tunnels." The post amassed 7.6 million views and 13,000 likes in less than 24 hours.

✡️🇺🇸 -- NOW AT 770: Bit of a chaotic scene at the Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights – NYPD are on scene after Bochurim ripped wooden panels after a cement truck arrived to seal off the recently discovered tunnels.

A source tells Belaaz that 770 will be closed shortly to regain… pic.twitter.com/ndVmuKG7uo

— Belaaz News (@TheBelaaz) January 8, 2024

@FrumTikTok posted a full thread on X unfolding the events inside the synagogue, which has been mysteriously all deleted. One moment, in particular, caught extra attention from netizens, when a bystander found a secret entrance to the tunnels from a drainage grate. The X page @FrumTikTok shared the video on January 8th, 2024, of a Hasidic man crawling out from the secret sewer tunnel (shown below), which amassed over 12 million views and 12,000 likes in a day. (shown below)

Hasidic Jew seen crawling out of sewer after NYPD busts Chabad tunnel network under New York City.

Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/hJurb2Cc4Q

— AF Post (@AFpost) January 9, 2024

X user @MarioNawfal posted a video (shown below) revealing what the inside of the tunnel looks like. The post amassed over 1.4 million views and 1.700 likes in a day.

🚨🇺🇸 DEEP INSIDE THE NYC SYNAGOGUE TUNNEL

Walk inside the tunnel that was reportedly being constructed under a synagogue in central Brooklyn, NYC, now sealed off and dismantled by police.

Known for their educational and community outreach programs, Chabad Lubavitch has over… https://t.co/RL03FjZ6tE pic.twitter.com/6e0dYyxA5H

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 9, 2024

How Did People Discovered The 'Chabad Synagogue Tunnels'?

According to reports from the New York Post, the young members were digging the tunnel under the synagogue in Crown Heights for nearly a year and were attempting to reach an abandoned women's mikvah (a ritual bath) that was "around the corner" to expand the building.

How Did The Internet React To The 'Chabad Synagogue Tunnels' Story?

The secret tunnels have been a hot topic all over the internet, especially on social media, as users are using their creativity to post memes and joke about the story. For example, on January 9th, 2024, X user @_vandul posted a video of a terrified man paired with the caption "Kanye waking up to the Jew tunnel videos." The post (shown below) amassed more than 60,000 views and 893 likes in a few hours.

On the same day, X user @kikisknees posted a clip from the 1990 movie Tremors to show how the police talked about the tunnels. The post (shown below) received roughly 12,000 views and 348 likes in a few hours.

To learn more about Chabad Synagogue Tunnels, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.