Management at Chabad's world headquarters has issued an urgent warning to worshippers after discovering a troubling new tactic by missionary groups targeting the Crown Heights synagogue. Pamphlets containing missionary content have been found inserted into siddurim and religious texts throughout the 770 Eastern Parkway building in Brooklyn.
According to a report by the Anash.org website, the materials were written in Hebrew and designed to appear innocuous at first glance. The apparent strategy was to expose unsuspecting worshippers to missionary messages without immediately alerting them to the content's true nature. By exploiting the sanctity of the prayer space and religious books, the perpetrators sought to introduce foreign religious concepts into the heart of the Jewish community.
The discovery follows a series of provocative incidents at and around 770 in recent weeks and months. Just days ago, a group wearing overtly Christian symbols entered the prayer hall and requested to put on tefillin while filming the encounter. Sources at the location explained that such actions aim to create videos and images portraying these individuals as connected to Judaism, lending legitimacy to their beliefs in order to influence Jews unaware of their true agenda.
Following that incident, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Kratz, who manages 770, clarified that neighborhood rabbis had issued unambiguous instructions not to allow individuals displaying missionary symbols to put on tefillin, and to halt any such activity within the synagogue walls. Meanwhile, missionary activity outside the building has become a recurring phenomenon, with activists setting up stations near 770, reading from their texts, playing music, and broadcasting their actions via social media live streams to generate provocation and gain exposure.
After the discovery of pamphlets inside the prayer books, Rabbi Kratz sent an urgent warning letter to worshippers and yeshiva students. In his message, he noted that missionary groups have grown bolder recently and have begun placing materials with missionary messages inside siddurim and religious texts. The rabbi urged anyone encountering such material not to read it at all, but rather to tear it up immediately and discard it in the nearest trash bin, while maintaining heightened vigilance whenever opening a religious book in the study hall.
