New York Jewish Tunnels: The best memes from the funniest story of 2024

Yesterday’s news of an illegal tunnel dug by young Hasidic men under the global headquarters of Chabad Lubavitch seems like the kind of hare-brained fantasy you’d find on a conspiracy theorist’s 2024 bingo card.

The developing story, featuring the tunnelling endeavours of yeshivah students at the synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn and the shul being “shut down” by archetypal American-Italian policemen, has become the latest subject of online memeification.

Despite the foreseeable onslaught of antisemitic speculation about the tunnels’ nefarious purposes and desperate allusions to tunnels in Gaza, several witty commentators on X have light-heartedly “meme-ified” the incident over its sheer New York-esque absurdity.

We decided to round up some of our favourite jokes to come out of 2024’s oddest story yet.

Seinfeld episode where George converts so he can use the tunnels to avoid an ex-girlfriend that works in Crown Heights
— Jesse (@MuskTillDawn) January 9, 2024

New York’s hottest club is 770. Located in an illegal tunnel under Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in Crown Heights, this club has everything: cement trucks, Messianism, and anti-Semitic conspiracies galore. The bouncer is the most Italian man in the NYPD. pic.twitter.com/3Yv0P1BmFm
— nim chimpsky (@thequeenofmemes) January 9, 2024

Oh theres tunnels Jerry, ohhhh you better believe it tough guy. Me and Newman are going down exploring with all the guys, and when we find the gold Jerry YOUR NOT GETTING ANY OF IT pic.twitter.com/ULR08HF26R
— turrible tao (Chicago jan 25-31) (@turrible_tao) January 9, 2024

imagine you're out there doing anti-conspiracy education and then a video emerges of a Hasidic guy crawling out from a secret network of jewish tunnels under new york
— stuart (@LockedStu) January 9, 2024

“with all this talk of haredim digging under brooklyn, i couldn’t help but wonder: why couldn’t i get a jew to explore MY tunnel?” pic.twitter.com/4r0rCnCx4K
— josh ✡︎ (@geolojosh_) January 9, 2024

That video of a Hasidic guy emerging from a sidewalk grate and running off is both one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen and something I trust a *very* small group people to riff on safely
— cowboy postbop (Dan Lehner) (@danlehnermusic) January 9, 2024

a lot of discussion on this website today about why those hasidic guys dug a tunnel under their shul. the answer is simple: if you get enough men together, they will eventually decide to dig a big hole.
— Amber “Berry” Carr 🔜 MAGfest (@bloodberry_tart) January 9, 2024

it was a jewish tunnel pic.twitter.com/aDkgSwUCkW
— ً (@max21e8) January 9, 2024

i respect the jewish lads digging mysterious tunnels in new york because i respect the right of all men to dig big holes of uncertain purpose. man yearns to dig
— 𝔐𝔞𝔤𝔫𝔢𝔱𝔰 🧲 (@PerthshireMags) January 9, 2024