Captive books

Why the Jewish library has become the subject of Russian foreign policy

The Rebbe Schneerson library, Lyubavic Hasidism - until recently, all this was exclusively given the religious part of the Jewish world. And suddenly - became the subject of Russian foreign policy, the topic of public statements by the President of the Russian Federation. The New Times tried to figure out this story

For almost 70 years, these manuscripts from the Schneerson library were in his own. (Hereinafter, photographs of books and manuscripts of the Assembly of the Jewish Fund of Manuscripts of the State Russian Library)

Interlocutors:

Alina Lisitsina is a researcher at the manuscripts of the Russian State Library (RSL), a specialist in Jewish manuscripts, a teacher of Jewish history and paleography of the ISAA of Moscow State University and the Center for Bible and Judaic of the Russian State University.

Borukh Gorin -spokesman for Rabbi Berl Lazar, leader of Khabad-Lubavich in Russia, member of the board of the Jewish Museum and the Center for Tolerance.

Pinhaas Goldshmidt is the President of the Council of European Rabbins (Orthodox Judaism), the chief rabbi of Moscow and the Moscow Choral Synagogue, and the chairman of the rabbinsky court.

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Dictionary:

Aguudat Hasidian Khabad Haulomit- “World Hasidov Khabada”, collegial body of the Habad-Lyubavich organization in New York, which dealt with the Schneerson library.

Rebbe is a word from Yiddish, the language of European Jews: the spiritual head of the Khasid current, also - a teacher in a header, an elementary Jewish school.

Hasidism - comes from the Hebrew word “Hasidus” - “righteousness”, “doctrine of piety”; The religious current in Judaism originated in the middle of the 18th century in the territory of the Commonwealth (Ukraine). In Soviet times, it was in a deep underground just as, for example, an Orthodox catacomb church. Widely widespread in pre -war Poland, where it was completely destroyed during the Holocaust.

Khabad -Lubavich is one of the eight directions in Hasidism and the only one in Russia that appeared in the last quarter of the 18th century in the towns of Lyada (Vitebsk region, Belarus) and Lyubavichi (Smolensk region). “Khabad” is an abbreviation of three Hebrew words, translating “wisdom, understanding, knowledge”.

Schneersons -the Lyubavic Rebbe dynasty (or courtyard): the 7th and last Lyubavic Rebbe Menachem-Mendel Schneerson died in New York (Brooklyn) in 1994 at the age of 92. Posthumously awarded the highest civilian award of the United States - the gold medal of the US Congress.

Instead of a prologue

On Tuesday, February 19, closer to the evening, the tapes of news agencies marked Lightning: President Putin held a meeting of the Council on Interethnic Policy in the Center for Tolerance; Putin said that the Schneerson library can be “located on the squares of the Jewish Center for Tolerance,” Putin said that the library was collected in Russia in the 19th century and part of it was nationalized by the decision of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR immediately after the revolution. And in this, Putin emphasized, a very important component of the problem. “Because if we agree that now such property of the Russian state will be transferred to someone, we will open the Pandora's box,” the president said.

- So, will this library remain in Russia? - asked the employee of the Federal Security Service (FSO) of the journalist "Echo of Moscow" Marina Korolev: two hours later the President of the President in the Far East and the Minister of Development of the Far East Viktor Ishaev was to be aired, and the FSO examined the premises in advance.

“It will remain,” the journalist answered.

The FSO officer nodded his head with satisfaction.

- And what is this center of tolerance? He asked.

“And these are these, Terry,” the colleague answered him. And they smiled knowingly.

| | | --- | | | Alina Lisitsina believes that Schneerson will go to the allocation, numbering and description of the Schneerson library for two years

The story of the problem

Alina Lisitsina, researcher at the manuscripts department of the Russian State Library (RSL) : the main pearl of our collection - a manuscript fund in Jewish languages, this, of course, is not a Schneerson library, but a library of barons of gyntzburgs - the largest Jewish family in pre -revolutionary Russia. It contains both the manuscripts of the 12th century, and manuscripts saved during the Inquisition, richly illustrated and very beautiful comments on the Bible, to the Talmud, the very first editions of the books in Hebrew at the end of the 15th century, the first Hasidic book - “The crowd of Jaakov Yosef”, the entire circulation of which was destroyed and the literally two or three copies were destroyed and one was stored in the gynzburg collection. Right before the revolution, the widow of David Ginzburg wanted to sell the collection first to New York, then to Palestine. But after the revolution, the collection was nationalized, and it came to us. We have manuscripts both in Aramaic and Karaim, there are books from the Library of Jacob Maz, which was the rabbi of the Moscow choral synagogue until its closure in 1923, and much more. As for what is commonly called the Schneerson library, its manuscript part is mainly the sermons of the Lyubavic Rebbe, six Schneersons dating back to the end of the 18th - beginning of the 20th century, the Khabadian manuscripts. Cover - mainly cardboard, sometimes covered with fabric. No, there are no expensive salaries - there is nothing like that on Jewish manuscripts and books: they were not decorated with stones, like, say, the mesalter of Godunovs. In the best case, leather and wooden covers. But these manuscripts are of unconditional scientific value for those who study the philosophy of Hasidism, for the hebraists - specialists in the Jewish language and Jewish history. But there is nothing valuable, such as medieval manuscripts, for example. The Jewish Fund has 460–466 storage units. Another part of the Schneerson library is 4425 books - in the center of the eastern literature of the RSL. The third part of the Schneerson collection is in the Russian State Military Archive: this is the part that was captured by the Germans in Poland during the war, where the sixth Lubavic Rebbe took it out. The Germans transported her to Germany, and after the victory she was transported to Moscow.

Borukh Gorin, member of the board of the Jewish Museum and the Center for Tolerance : this story began like this. In 1915, the fifth Lubavic Rebbe from the Schneerson dynasty was forced to flee Lyubavichy - the German army was advancing. He managed to take out most of the library and send to warehouses in Moscow. He himself left for Rostov, where he died in 1920.

| | | --- | | | Borukh Gorin believes that Putin proposed a compromise, but the New York Lyubavic Hasides do not want to go to him

Alina Lisitsina : I saw a document according to which, even before the revolution, the library was transported to Moscow, and as I understand it, I got to the warehouses on the Sofia Embankment, belonging to the rich merchant and industrialist Persian - a bibliophile and a collector of books and manuscripts. The Persian himself disappeared unknown somewhere or died during the revolution, or in the civil war. Then the Schneersons tried to get it back, but the Soviet government already refused it because the law on the inheritance was abolished at some point: then some laws were adopted, others were canceled-there was a complete confusion. Schneersons were ready to share with the state if it finds something valuable in their collection. There was a bargain, but did not give anything. Why confiscated? Well, then everyone confiscated ...

Borukh Gorin : The sixth Rebbe Yosef-Izhak Schneerson was famous for his anti-Soviet activity: for example, he created a network of underground headers-schools, although the teaching of Hebrew and Yiddish was already forbidden, for which he was quite rightly arrested in 1927 in Leningrad. There, in fact, then was the headquarters of Hasidism. He was sent to Kostroma, and then, under the pressure of Jewish circles - and Soviet Russia was then acutely in need of trade contracts with different countries - he was allowed to go to Latvia, from there he moved to Warsaw. But when the Germans took her, he was sent again to Riga and from there already, through Stockholm, he managed to leave for the United States. The archive, or rather, traveled with him: part from Riga was transported beyond the ocean to New York and is now in Brooklyn, in a library located in the Lyubavic Center-this is one of the largest Judaic centers in the world. But the part remained in Poland, then Berlin and Moscow. There are no books in the military archive - this is mainly personal correspondence of the Schneerson family, photos, family albums. Naturally, due to the specifics of the military archive, access to these documents is very limited. If that part of the Schneerson library, which is stored in the Russian State Library, is subject to the law on the nationalization of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, which Putin mentioned, then the documents in the military archive have never been nationalized, they fall under the laws on displaced values. It seems to me that this part of the Schneerson library, highlighting it from the whole collection, could just be returned to the family to New York: this fully complies with the current Russian legislation. Unfortunately, for some reason, New York Hasides refused to highlight this part of the entire library (it was reported in the early 2000s): they claim that Schneerson’s library is indivisible and demanded to return it completely. That from a legal point of view it seems to me a mistake.

| | | --- | | | The manuscript sermons of the six Rebbe Schneersons are holy texts for those who consider them their spiritual leaders

70 years of Extremely

Alina Lisitsina : According to the document that I saw, after confiscation, they first wanted to create a certain Jewish library and transfer different funds there, including the Schneerson library. But then this mandate was canceled and issued a new one to move it to the Rumyantsev Museum - Pashkov’s house, which became part of the Lenin Library. Further, she lies here for many years, because it was not very good with the Hebraists in the Soviet Union: in the 1920-1930s, someone else was, and then for many years no one. Some experts appeared in the 70–80s: they worked primarily with books from the gynzburg collection. And the Schneerson collection, in general, all this fund was not even numbered for many years, then it was at least numbered, they just gave such an inventory type of cover. Here the cover is black, such and such a spine, here is green, such a spine. And the processing was carried out only in the early 1990s, there was a paleographic project*

with the National Library of Israel. Both the Ginzburg Foundation, the manuscript part, and part of this Jewish fund were shot and microfilmized, and descriptions were made along the microfilms there, in Israel. This is the only thing that was done. True, they were given not the entire Jewish fund, but only part of it: not by evil intent, but simply forgot, because one part stood in one place, the other in another place. There were no specialists, and these books were not attached to any fund at all. Now the question is raised about the allocation and description of the Schneerson library from the entire collection of the Jewish Fund. This is a long and painstaking work that requires a detailed study of almost every book, manuscripts, components of handwriting, and so on.

| | | --- | | | Jewish books never had rich salaries: as a rule, it was cardboard covers covered with fabric

Litigation

Borukh Gorin : Schneerson's library was discovered in the 1980s. Then the Lyubavic Hasids began to negotiate with Russian officials, then the courts began: they won all the Russian courts before the highest arbitration. The highest arbitration was also won, but this decision was protested at a meeting of the Supreme Arbitration Court in 2003. On this, the judicial history in Russia ended. This was a political decision, and there were no international courts that would be engaged in disputes about the return of displaced or nationalized values ​​that Russia would recognize. In short, a dead end. In 2010, his representatives authorized by the last Rebbe Schneerson are four people, including the rabbi of the Moscow synagogue on Bronnaya Isaac Kogan, turned to the Washington district, the district of Colombia with a lawsuit against the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the RSL and the State Military Archive. It is clear that Russia is not under the jurisdiction of the American court, but at first she decided to participate in this process in the person of her vice-consul. And when it became clear where the wind was blowing, they left the process. Which, of course, the American judge was perceived unambiguously as a disrespect for the court. The outcome was predetermined. As a result, for four years, as not a single Russian collection or exhibits from Russian museums have been participating in exhibitions in the United States, because they can be arrested there. And on January 16, 2013, the Washington Federal District Court ordered the Russian authorities to pay a fine of $ 50 thousand per day until the Schneerson library is transported to New York.

| | | --- | | | The collection requires restoration, and it, in turn, is of big money

To victory

Alina Lisitsina : Why are they so fighting Schneerson's library? Firstly, for the Hasida movement in general for Khabad-Lubavich (see p. 37), in particular, everything that relates to their leaders has special value: in Hasid practices, special veneration of the spiritual leader is common ...

Borukh Gorin : This is a kind of monarchical tradition ...

Alina Lisitsina : The last Rebbe commanded to bring the library to New York, and they sacredly fulfill his will. Secondly, as it seems to me, for them it is a symbol of victory over the Soviet government, which they perceive as an enemy that destroyed them, but before which they did not give up and which must be previously previously prevailed. Everyone else would have surrendered for a long time, and they are fighting.

Borukh Gorin : In the mythology of Lyubavic Hasides, there is an idea that these books are captured, so it is important to rescue them from captivity. The second is important that manuscripts and books are stored in compliance with the holiness of storage.

Alice Lisitsin : Do the Habadniki come to read books from the Schneerson collection? I don't remember. But on excursions they often come to our manuscripts and the Center for Eastern Cultures.

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Why are they so fighting the library? For them, this is a symbol of victory over the Soviet government, which they perceive as an enemy that destroyed them

" In search of a compromise

Borukh Gorin : Putin’s proposal (on the placement of Schneerson's library in the Jewish Museum and the Center for Tolerance) is an attempt to get the situation out of the impasse, a step towards negotiations, to a compromise. On the one hand, the collection in this case will not leave the territory of Russia, which is fundamentally for Putin, on the other hand, it will be among those for whom these books are holy. Another question is that it is not clear how all this will be done: Moscow Hasides cannot take the collection-this is the property of other people, and they are in New York. But I’m sure that now the ball is on the American side: the rabbi (synagogue on Bronnaya) Kogan has already stated that such a compromise seems acceptable to him. However, the lawyer of the plaintiffs, that is, the representatives of Agudat Hasidian Khabad Khaolomit (World Hasidov Habad Union), Nathan Lyvin, said on February 21 that “Vladimir Putin’s proposal is unacceptable for them, the library should be returned to New York.”

Finally, we must understand that this whole story is not a matter of attitude towards Jews, it is a matter of relations with the United States. This is not a conflict from the Russian -Jews, Orthodox -Jews, this lies in the line of the confrontation of Russia - Wall, the Washington Regional Committee. It is clear that the latter search for a compromise does not help.

Alina Lisitsina : In order for Schneerson's library to be transferred somewhere for placement, it must be primarily allocated from the Jewish Foundation of the RSL, numbered, described. Given that of those who work with manuscripts, I am the only hebraist, it will take a year, or even two. There is also a need for restoration - especially covers, and restoration is expensive. And of course, if they post books in the center of tolerance, then there it will be necessary to build a room with climate control. A way out of the situation, of course, must be sought. But given how much we have in the ownership of the state, it is very dangerous to create a precedent.

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Rabbi Pinhaas Goldshmidt is sure that first of all it is necessary to determine who is the heir to the library

Pinhaas Goldshmidt, President of the Council of European Rabbins (Orthodox Judaism), the chief rabbi of Moscow, chairman of the rabbinsky court.

There are three main reasons why the Lubavic Hasides have been struggling for Schneerson's library for so many years. First and the main: Khabad-Lubavich is a messianic-mystical movement. It is no secret that most of the Lyubavic Hasids believe that the last, seventh, Lyubavic Rebbe is the Messiah. Some do not even admit that he died. Others believe that it is worth expecting his second parish. But in the Jewish tradition, the Messiah is not only a clergyman, it is a political leader, he, as one of our sages wrote, Maimonid, must defeat in the war against the enemies of God. Those who confiscated Schneerson's library, and their followers from the CPSU fought with them, closed schools and prayer houses, arrested, sent to a gulag, shot. Возвращение библиотеки — это символ победы над атеизмом, победы их Ребе, прихода которого они ждут. Тем более что Хабад—Любавич является единственным российским хасидским движением, все остальные были в других странах Восточной Европы. Следовательно, тот или те, кто сумеет вернуть библиотеку Шнеерсона — и это вторая причина такой несговорчивости нью-йоркских любавических хасидов, — станут героями. Наконец, так же как для христиан важно все, что связано с крестом Иисуса — например, плащаница, так и для любавичей важно все, к чему прикасались руки их лидеров: а на книгах и рукописях есть личные пометки ребе династии Шнеерсонов.

Сколько любавических хасидов осталось сегодня в России?

Из тех, кто одевается так, как того требует их традиция, соблюдает ритуалы — наверное, несколько сотен семей. Но одно из отличий Хабад–Любавич от других направлений в хасидизме заключается в том, что они стараются привлечь в свои ряды светских евреев, в то время как, скажем, гурские хасиды — их в Израиле насчитывается до 200 тыс. человек — живут своей замкнутой общиной, или, как принято говорить, «двором». А любавические хасиды очень вовлечены в светскую жизнь, потому они так заметны.

Вы считаете, библиотека Шнеерсона должна быть передана в Бруклинский центр любавических хасидов?

С точки зрения справедливости — да: это была собственность конкретной семьи, она имеет как минимум моральное право получить ее обратно. Другой вопрос, что тогда, после семнадцатого года, конфисковывали все и у всех: значит, надо будет и другим отдавать их собственность — землю, дома, заводы. Наконец, есть и еще один вопрос: кому принадлежит библиотека Шнеерсона — человеку, семье или движению любавических хасидов? Если движению — то почему она не может быть передана российскому Хабаду?

У Хабад Любавич свой раввинский суд, но, предположим, они обратились к вам, как к третейскому судье, поскольку вы представляете ортодоксальный иудаизм: решите, кому передать библиотеку Шнеерсона — любавичам в России или в США. Как бы вы решили?

Раввинский суд рассматривал бы этот вопрос как имущественное дело. И сразу возникла бы дилемма: кто является законным наследником? Например, в США в 1986 году было судебное дело Хабад–Любавич против Бэри Гурари. Гурари пришел в Любавический центр в Бруклине, взял несколько редких книг и продал их. Его аргумент: «Я внук шестого любавического ребе, Йосефа-Ицхака Шнеерсон» — то есть того самого, кто вывез часть библиотеки семьи в Нью-Йорк — «И я имею право на часть коллекции». Нью-йоркский Центр Хабад Любавич подал иск в суд, и вопрос, который решал суд: является ли имущество Шнеерсонов имуществом движения или же отдельных лиц? Суд вынес решение: это имущество движения. Кстати, похожий вопрос встал, когда в судах рассматривались дела о возвращении имущества или компенсации за имущество, отобранное у евреев во время Холокоста. И решение было такое: если есть законные наследники — конкретные внуки и так далее, — они получают компенсацию, если конкретных наследников нет — им становится весь еврейский народ. И на эти деньги в разных странах были построены хеседы — центры помощи пожилым людям и инвалидам.

Политические последствия передачи библиотеки в Нью-Йорк вы бы в раввинском суде рассматривали?

Этот факт надо учитывать. Хотя я думаю, что нынешняя ситуация (с библиотекой Шнеерсона) — в русле принятия американским Конгрессом «Акта Магнитского» и «закона Димы Яковлева» российским парламентом. Но я недостаточно знаком с документами, чтобы на ваши вопросы ответить однозначно: я решил бы так или иначе. Это действительно сложное дело.

фотография: Ксения Жихарева, Василий Попов