Editing 770 Eastern Parkway (section)

== History ==
The building was constructed in 1933 by a doctor named J. Rosenman for private residence and a medical clinic (illegal).

The building was built luxuriously, with ceramic tiles in the inner rooms imported from Italy, the upper rooms were wood-paneled, and the two front rooms on the top floor were lavishly furnished.

In the basement was a furnished room that served as Rosenman's event hall. The building had an elevator - unusual for those days according to experts, and $200,000 was invested in it.

Rosenman was arrested due to complications with the IRS, and the building was seized by Nassau Savings and Loan Association, who offered it for sale at a discounted price of $30,000.

[Rosenman later prided himself that the building became the Lubavitch center]

On Tuesday, 9th of Adar I 1940, the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived in [[The United States|America]] after leaving Nazi-occupied Europe. Upon arrival in the USA, he stayed at the Greystone Hotel in Manhattan, and the chassidim established a committee to search for a suitable location for Agudas Chasidei Chabad as a private home and beis medrash for the Rebbe, called the Committee for Building Beis Chayeinu by Agudas Chasidei Chabad.

The committee members were: [[Rabbi Nissan Telushkin]] - Honorary Chairman of Agudas Chassidei Chabad Rabbi Chaim Shneur Zalman Kramer - Chairman of Agudas Chassidei Chabad Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Kazarnovsky - Committee Chairman Rabbi Avraham DovBer Kramer - Treasurer Rabbi DovBer Chaskind - Secretary

As well as: Rabbi Shmuel Levitin Rabbi Moshe DovBer Rivkin [[Rabbi Eliyahu Yeichil-Simpson|Rabbi Eliyahu Simpson]] Rabbi Yisroel Jacobson Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kunin

Initially, Rabbis Jacobson and Kunin wanted the Rebbe to remain living in Lakewood where he first stayed upon arrival, but the Rebbe responded: "Among my people I dwell" - meaning that Lakewood was merely a tourist destination compared to New York which was an active residential area for most European immigrants.

After searching, building 770 was found on Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood and the Rebbe chose it. This area was prestigious and central, with 770 being the newest building in the center of the neighborhood. Its architectural character and structure, with decorative elements, made it stand out as a prominent building suitable to serve as the Rebbe's home, Beis Medrash, and center of Chassidus.

Most residents in the neighborhood were Conservative, and the building that today serves as Yeshivas Chovevei Torah was their center for all of America.

The Frierdiker Rebbe commented to the Tomashpol Rebbe, a neighborhood resident, before the purchase that there was potential to work with him in the neighborhood.

During the purchase proceedings, residents organized opposition to the settlement of the Rebbe and his chassidim in the neighborhood, whose character was very different from theirs, claiming it would lower property values. The petition against the purchase was nullified by a Jew who angrily tore up the petition.

For the purchase, the committee appealed to Anash in a letter requesting financial participation, and on Friday, 12 Menachem Av 1940, the building was purchased.

A large portion of the sum was given by the sons of Rabbi Moshe Eliezer Kramer, the first chairman of Agudas Chassidei Chabad and one of Chabad's main supporters at the time.

In mid-Menachem Av, the Rebbe came for a visit, instructed how to arrange the shul and how to affix the mezuzos, and asked to see the basement. He prayed Mincha and Maariv there, and afterward sat in the room that would later become his son-in-law the Rebbe's room and said words of blessing.

To create a prayer hall, they broke down the wall between two rooms and created what is today called the Small Zal.

On 19 Menachem Av, the Rebbe moved to live in 770, and upon entering what is now called the Small Zal, he said words of blessing.

On 21 Elul, there was a Chanukas Habayis (building dedication). The Rebbe held a farbrengen and said a maamar beginning with "Al Shlosha Devorim."

During this period, very few religious Jews lived in Crown Heights, but in 1941, hundreds of Jews came to see the Rebbe during prayer.

On the first night, the Rebbe prayed in what is now called the Small Zal, and the next day with a small minyan upstairs.

Initially, prayers were held only on Shabbos and Yom Tov. Later, the Agudas Chassidei Chabad office manager, Rabbi Dovid Shifrin, suggested moving the yeshiva there, and immediately after the holidays, the yeshiva moved to 770.

In a letter dated 19 Marcheshvan to his mother, the Rebbe wrote that they paid $5,000 in cash and another $25,000 in a twenty-year loan with payments of $1,350 per year. Renovations cost $2,000, totaling $7,000 - $5,000 was raised by chassidim and $2,000 was borrowed.

Due to the difficult situation, they couldn't meet the payments, and only in 1950 was the payment completed by a donor named Mr. Joseph Robinson.

From the day of entering 770, the "Lubavitch Court" moved, as part of the "ten exiles that Lubavitch was exiled" to its permanent location, from which it will move to the Holy Land with the coming of Moshiach, as per the Rebbe's words.

The building's size was sufficient at that time for all the needs of Agudas Chassidei Chabad in the United States and even for the Frierdiker Rebbe's private needs.
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