Court Rules "Building 770" in Kfar Chabad Belongs to Dissolving Chabad Association

The Central District Court in Lod has ruled that the rights to "Building 770," a replica of the Chabad headquarters in New York located in Kfar Chabad, will remain with the Agudat Chasidei Chabad organization, which is currently undergoing dissolution. Judge Hilat Salish rejected a petition by the Kfar Chabad Cooperative Association to cancel a prior agreement between the two entities concerning the building's rights.

The building, erected in 1986 on the instruction of the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, houses the association's offices, a synagogue, a study hall, and a visitor center. The Agudat Chasidei Chabad is the owner, while the cooperative association is the governing body of Kfar Chabad.

The association has been in temporary receivership since 2017 due to mismanagement and inability to meet its obligations. In 2020, the temporary receiver, attorney Moshe Eliya, asked the court to confirm the association's sole ownership of the building. The cooperative association contested this, claiming it was the owner and had built the structure.

A settlement agreement was reached in December 2020, approved by the court, which affirmed the association's ownership and established property management rules. However, in January 2023, the cooperative association sought to revoke this agreement, alleging the association violated it by planning to appoint members without the approval of the Chabad rabbinical court and that Eliya failed to transfer rental income to them.

Eliya countered that the lawsuit was a tactical move to prevent changes in the association's leadership. Judge Salish stated that the cooperative association's claims of ownership were unlikely to succeed and that the court would minimally intervene in the finalized settlement agreement, which was clearly worded and negotiated with legal representation. The judge also noted that the settlement did not address the future management of the dissolving association or the cooperative's influence over it, justifying the dismissal of the petition. Salish also acknowledged the significant difficulties Eliya faced in collecting rent from the building's tenants, who had refused to pay, and noted the cooperative association's failure to assist with necessary tax approvals for rent collection.

The cooperative association was ordered to pay 40,000 shekels in legal costs.