The Schneerson Library cannot be taken out to the United States from Russia, presidential envoy for international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy told Interfax.
“No Reasons to Take Schneerson Library out of Russia”
The Schneerson Library cannot be taken out to the United States from Russia, presidential envoy for international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy told Interfax.
“The Schneerson collection is part of the Russian State Library’s collection, which, in turn, is indivisible and cannot be subject to separation,” he said.
“There are no reasons” for moving the collection. These archives have been in the Russian Federation’s ownership all through the 20th century, and cannot be alienated or moved on a permanent basis,“ Shvydkoy said.
Pending the settlement of the Schneerson Library issue, no exhibits of Russian cultural values are possible in the United States, he also said.
”It is impossible to imagine a situation involving seizure of Russian cultural values, which is due to the fact, among other reasons, that special conditions must be created to keep them, which is difficult to do in places unfit for this. Therefore, we will not be able to send any of our exhibits to the United States pending solution of the problem,“ he said.
A Russian-American agreement is being drafted that would help protect Russian cultural values from third parties’ claims, Shvydkoy said, adding, ”The drat will be ready within a month, I think.”
The Schneerson Library is a collection of old Jewish books and manuscripts, put together by rabbis of the Chabad Jewish community in the late 18th century in Belarus. It is one of the Jewish religious relics.
Part of the collection amassed by Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson, was nationalized by Bolsheviks in 1918 and ended up at the Russian State Library. The other part was taken out of the Soviet Union by Schneerson, who emigrated in the 1930s.
About 25,000 pages of manuscripts got into the hands of the Nazis, and were later seized by the Red Army and handed over to the Russian State Military Archive.
Lubavitchers (adherents of one of the Hasidic movements – IF) have sought the restitution of the Schneerson collection since the late 1980s. According to some reports, at the time Russia’s first president Boris Yeltsin promised to James Baker, Secretary of State in the George Bush Sr. administration, that the holy documents will be returned to the Hasids.
On August 6, 2010, a federal judge in Washington, Royce Lamberth, ruled that the Hasids proved the legitimacy of their claims to the ancient Jewish books and manuscripts, which, in his definition, are kept at the Russian State Library and the Russian Military Archive illegally.
The Russian Foreign Ministry challenged the judgment.
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle has assured Russian officials that the U.S. court ruling will not lead to a seizure of Russian cultural values, taken out to the United States for an exhibition.
Simon
Maybe it’s time to come to some settlement, where the physical library stays in Russia, but it is properly curated, and full access to the materials including copies of one-of-a-kind materials are granted?
Ancient Jewish Books?
300 year old books and manuscripts are ancient?
not in CH
Boris Yeltsin was willing to send out , so now we wait for the next “ Yeltsin ” , hopefully soon
Der Elenter
The importance of this grows by the day.
Lubavitch as a chassiduss is becoming a musuem, with guided tours daily, and the works.
Shluchim are doing fine with “outreach” or “kiruv”, but the uniqueness of the derech is (almost) lost.
Take the “ach-Tzadikim” yungeleit, for example. They are very well intentioned and are beginning at the right place (Tanya 42), but have no guidance (perhaps no ambition either) beyond that.
Reb Yoel, zol zein gezunt un shtark, is a fine example of what a chossid does with a photographic memory. For those not blessed with that?
The few “ovdim” kvetching around instead of being with their family’s seudas shabbos? There is no inspiring sound coming out, just slogging along and – and what? Why y would someone want to walk thrught the desert to reach the desert.
So the chassidus has boiled down (r been distilled) into mashkeh and some chassiduss. The rest is sloganeering, which does not approach the level of Mussar, nor Chagass, let alone Chabad. (“Sloganeering”: as in “Nochon loymar…Ve Ahavta…”)
lloyd a cohen
The Israeli government handed over a piece of property in the Holy City that the Russians claimed was theirs from the old days. It is now going to be a Russian-israzeli friendship and promotion of understanding center. Too bad they(Israel) could not have tied this into the return.
But right now my major concern is two fold: First the upkeep and protection of these works. Second, access of recognized scholars to these works for cataloging and research. Do we have any information about this?
Mah Hakesher!
I don’t get it, how could they hold it if it was stolen from the Rebbe?
Simon
Maybe a partnership can be formed with Google (and the Russians) to digitize the library, make the database searchable online, with the ability to download, and then Moscow can hold onto the physical paper until they’re ready to have someone take it off their hands. As it stands now, the Russian govt has become akshonim and there is no realistic posibility of getting them to change their minds. So why not see if they’ll agree to compromise. The world gets access to the books/documents and they get to stop worrying about their art being confiscated by a U.S. court.
The Great Baron Perogin
“It’s ours! We stole it fair and square!”
Milhouse
Simon, would you propose the same for art stolen by the Nazis?!
Simon
No. But I have to think about why not.
Simon
In art work the primary value is in the painting itself. and that is often millions of dollars. Just giving a copy of the painting would not suffice. But it too would be better than nothing. With books, while they have (much) value themselves, the ideas in the books/manuscripts are way more important than the actual “first editions” of the books themselves. I’m not giving up the claim to the physical books themselves, I’m arguing that if nothing else, at least the information of the books/manuscripts should be released. That information could be re-published, put on the web … As it is now, the physical books/manuscripts continue to age and nothing productive is coming of it.