Gems From The Schneerson Library: The Wiener Library

The Library of the Frierdiker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, was confiscated by the Bolsheviks and placed in Russia’s state library. CrownHeights.info presents a series of gems discovered in the library and made available to the public.

After the Lubavich library had been nationalized by the Soviet government in the early 1920’s, the Rebbe Rayatz decided to buy the book collection of the famous bibliophile, Samuel Wiener. The purchase agreement was concluded in 1924, and the Rebbe Rayatz was obliged to pay 50 dollars of monthly payment for the library.

The archive features numerous letters written to The Rebbe Rayatz by the Wiener family confirming the receipt of the payment. Most of them were written by the son of Samuel Wiener, Eremey Wiener, in Russian. However, his father sometimes added a postscript in the end of the letter – always in Hebrew. In the picture there is an example of such a letter.

The Rayatz succeeded in taking these books with him when leaving the USSR in 1927, and afterwards they became part of the Chabad Lubavitch library in New York.

Translation of the letter:

“Dear Iosif Solomonovich,
Hereby we gratefully confirm the receipt of the check for 50 dollars as a payment for August 1928.
My father and the whole family congratulate you on New Year and wish you and your family happiness and health.
With best regards,
E. Wiener”