Judge Rules: Authority Over 770 Belongs to Lubavitch HQ

By COLlive reporter

Justice Harriet L. Thompson of the Kings County Surrogate’s Court ruled that the authority over 770 Eastern Parkway belongs to the official institutions that the Rebbe appointed for Lubavitch World Headquarters.

Thompson ruled on April 25, 2020, that the iconic building, and specifically its main shul, was to be run by Agudas Chassidei Chabad (Aguch) and Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, the central organizations of the movement.

The institutions argued that Congregation Lubavitch Inc. run by the group of Gabboim Zalman Lipskier, Avrohom Holtzberg, Menachem Gerlitzky, Yosef Losh, Sholom Ber Kievman, were not authorized to seize control over the shul.

Thompson wrote that the Rebbe “determined the power and authority granted to the owners of these properties” and that “his intentions were made clear by granting full authority to the owners” – the official institutions of Lubavitch.

The Rebbe appointed Rabbi Avraham Shemtov as Chairman of the Board of Aguch and Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky as Chairman of the Board of Merkos.

The judge specified that the Rebbe has not given authority “not the congregants or the Gabboim, over the religious corporation’s real property and personal property” despite years of claiming so.

For many years, since the Rebbe’s passing on Gimmel Tammuz, the main shul at 770 Eastern Parkway has been occupied and controlled by the gabboim and the messianic faction that opposes mainstream Chabad. Under their control, the shul has been home to embarrassing incidents and often barred rabbis and other prominent individuals from visiting it.

“This Court has the legal obligation to enforce the bylaws, religious corporation law and subsequent amendments to their contents,” she wrote.

Read the full verdict
AGUDAS FINAL