By COLlive reporter
The New York Police Department has expanded its patrol around Lubavitch World Headquarters and the Crown Heights neighborhood over the month of Tishrei and its holidays.
But gabboim of the main shul at 770 Eastern Parkway are also concerned about an internal threat, one that may be caused by the large number of people gathered there.
Guests come from around the world to spend “Tishrei with the Rebbe” and fill the main shul for davening, learning, farbrengens and dancing. For years, many have brought with them folding chairs, milk crates and boxes to rest on while at shul.
That is going to change this year, the Gabbai Rabbi Yosef Losh told COLlive.com on Sunday night. He said they are insuring that the doorways as well as the exit walkways will remain clear.
“We won’t be allowing anything to fill up the empty spaces,” he stated. “Nobody is allowed to bring anything to 770, not a box, chair or bench. All exits must remain empty.”
The decision to implement safety precautions was made following the deadly crowd crush on Mount Meron on Lag BaOmer which cost the lives of 45 people and the collapse of bleachers in the Karlin-Stolin shul near Jerusalem.
Losh said that the prohibition against parking bicycles and scooters at the entrance of 770 has been successful. “It used to be a parking lot, and now on Shabbos it’s 100% clear,” he said.
He said the chairs and boxes people bring for the long hours in shul pose a similar threat to the bikes in the entrance. “If something happens, it’s not like people will pick up their box when they escape…” he said.
The gabboim’s decision was publicly supported in a letter from Rabbi Avrohom Osdoba and Rabbi Yosef Braun, members of the Crown Heights Beis Din.
“With regards to the crowding in 770, everything must be done in accordance with public safety guidelines, following the rules set by experts, and in coordination with the gabboim,” they stated.
What is being planned to be certain the one and only aisle on Kingston side is completely clear- including the steps? Usually if a person is less than a half hour early, it is impossibly impassable. To whom should this concern be directed?
The baby strollers need to be kept out of 770 too. They are a terrible hazard even more so than folding chairs and boxes by the men. Years ago with the rebbe, the strollers were left outside on the porch and you could enter and exit 770 freely
The women’s section is a HuGe hazard pls make some safety improvements
Ty!
Stroller should not be in 770
What about the suitcases that have been blocking the exits for the past two weeks? The rules need to be consistent
Excellent
In what name should the check be made out to? How should the envelope be addressed or written to? Thank you!
Please reply ASAP!
Contributions can be made at Bedek Habayis: https://lubavitch.com/donate.html,
Bedek Habayis- Machane Israel
Lubavitch World Headquarters
770 Eastern Parkway Brooklyn, NY 11213
no boxes should be allowed by the ladies section
they build bleacher like standing section with it and it pretty much completely blocks hundreds of women and girls trying to see, and also makes the emergency pathway between the men and women packed because people can’t see so they go into that pathway…and it gets clogged up
time for a vaad hamesader
back in the day we never had this and everyone got to see, some better than others but everyone got to see
It is commendable that the gabboim recognize the potential hazards involved in blocking the exits and stacking chairs, boxes, etc. However, WHO will enforce theses rules?