Meanwhile in place of power, cable, and phone lines there is a related 18 mile translucent line hung in order to turn the entire city into one big happy home called a *eruv* -- following the law of the highest of high courts to the letter. [0]

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSldb9IMDVU

This is a very weird story.

Religious infighting with 2 fundamentalist sects that somehow boiled down to some people digging a tunnel connecting 2 buildings because of... reasons? Like it seems like they thought that if they built the tunnel that'd magically lead to everyone deciding "You know what, this expansion project is a good thing!"

Very bizarre.

Regardless, I'm glad it got shut down before a collapse killed someone.

It's quite frustrating. The story ends with:

> four defendants refused to accept a plea deal and were set to be tried in April 2025

I can find loads of stories reporting those facts, but I can't find an account of what happened next. Did they change their pleas? Were they tried?

An illegal tunnel in a densely populated city like that is a bold move.

This was unexpected though:

> stills taken from videos of the synagogue's interior as well as the room leading to the tunnel, which showed a stained mattress and high chair, respectively, fueled antisemitic conspiracy theories

> A USA Today fact-check stated that the stained mattress seen in viral videos had been removed from behind wood paneling of the synagogue rather than from the tunnel itself, undermining online speculation that the mattresses were in the tunnel