Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on May 24, 2014

Shneerson Library Works Not Returned From '91 Loan

getty images

Published May 22, 2014.

Moscow A Russian court demanded on Thursday that the U.S. Library of Congress hand back seven precious Jewish texts to Moscow - and, in a tit-for-tat ruling, said it should pay a massive fine for every day it delays.

The so-called Schneerson collection, claimed by both Russia and the New York-based Hasidic Chabad-Lubavitch group, has become a bone of contention in Russia-U.S. ties, at their lowest for decades due to the Ukraine crisis.

The Library of Congress has seven books of the collection, Interfax reported. Russia has 4,425 texts, including editions of the Torah and the Talmud, some of them dating back to the 16th century.

A Moscow arbitration court ruled that the Library of Congress should pay $50,000 in fines for every day the seven books are not handed over. Moscow reacted angrily when a U.S. judge ruled last year Russia should pay $50,000 a day for failing to send the rest of the collection to the United States.

Moscows arbitration court on Thursday upheld the claim by the Russian State Library and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation against the U.S. Library of Congress, Interfax reported.

Ties between Moscow and the United States have deteriorated to their lowest point since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, as the West adopts sanctions against Moscow because of its annexation of Crimea.

The seven books in question were loaned to the United States in 1991 for 60 days, but never returned, Interfax reported.

More here:

Russia Court Demands 7 Hasidic Trove Books Back Sets 50K-a-Day Fine

Category: Hasidic
Tags: