On this date in 5700 (1940), the Chanukat Ha-Bbayit was held in the building at 770 Eastern Parkway, New York. In Hebrew, “770” is the numerical value of the words “House of Moshiach”. Later the Rebbe will reveal the deep symbolism of this number in his explanations and discourses.
The building had been purchased by “Agudas Chassidei Chabad” on the 12 Av 5700. It was intended to house the living quarters, study and office, Yeshivah, and synagogue of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (the Rebbe Rayatz) and would ultimately become the Chabad Headquarters in New York.
In 5752 the Rebbe called this building “Beit Rabbeinu she BeBavel”:
It’s said in the Book of Yechezkiel (11:16): “I will be for them a miniature Sanctuary (“Mikdash Me’at”) in the lands where they will come.” Our sages explain this passuk to mean that even outside of Eretz Yisrael, in the place and time of exile, there is a “miniature Beit ha-Mikdash” which is a scaled-down example of the “great Beit ha-Mikdash” in Yerushalayim. Rebbi Yitzchok in the Gemora (Megillah 29a) says that the above passuk refers to the shuls and study halls in Bavel (Babylon), and Rebbi Eliezer says that this passuk refers to “Beit Rabbeinu she BeBavel” — “the house of our Rebbe in Bavel” [the central place during exile]. (From the Rebbe’s explanations, “Kuntres “The Miniature Mikdash” which is “the house of our Rebbe in Bavel”)
Historical perspective:
On this same day, 21 Elul, exactly a year before the Chanukas Habayis, Rebbe Rayats left the city of Otvock. After the war had broken out in Europe in Elul 5699 (September 1939), Rebbe Rayats began his almost half-a-year long travel from Nazi-occupied Poland to the USA. The Rebbe would arrive in the US in the month of Adar, 5700.
