by STAFF WRITER | Feb 2nd, 2024
As a young Jewish boy growing up in New York City, there were many places throughout the city that served as cultural landmarks for my religious identity. My synagogue blocks away from our apartment. The 2nd Ave Deli where we would frequent on weekends. The tunnel beneath the Chabad-Lubavitch global headquarters in Crown Heights.
There truly wasn’t a greater joy than waking up on a lazy Sunday morning, taking the 4 train down to Brooklyn, and spending hours down in the tunnels with my buddies. We talked about our little league teams, the girls we liked at school, and how our parents just didn’t get us.
As many of you may have seen, the NYPD raided the tunnel earlier this month, claiming it was “illegally excavated,” and throwing around charges like “criminal mischief” and “reckless endangerment.” This story hit particularly close to home for me.
Sure, the tunnel may have been damaging the structural integrity of neighboring buildings and built without proper notification of the Department of Buildings, but can’t guys have a little fun nowadays?
Instead of crying because it’s over, I’ve tried to smile because it happened. While it may look like a dirt and debris-filled 60 ft x 8 ft empty passageway to outsiders, to us, it was so much more. It was our basketball court. Our ballfield. Our Beyblade and Pokemon battleground arena.
You can take the boy out of the tunnel, but you can’t take the tunnel out of the boy. RIP.