Russia’s Foreign Ministry has criticized a U.S. judge ruling fining Russia $50,000 a day over the failure to return historical books and documents to a Jewish group.
Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court ruled Wednesday that Russia should pay the fine until it complies with his 2010 order and returns the collection to the Chabad-Lubavitch group based in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. It includes tens of thousands of religious books and manuscripts, some hundreds of years old. The documents are held by Russia’s State Library and the Russian military archive.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday called the ruling “an absolutely unlawful and provocative decision” and threatened a “tough response” if U.S authorities try to seize any Russian property.
(AP)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
4 Responses
דידן נצח
These Seforim are probably copies of what we already have. The Rebbe had a thousand times Charotto for the big issue, he made, because of the few seforim taken by the Rashag’s son. The Rebitzin ended up losing the friendship of her only sister and her only friend in this world. She was really left all alone and got sick soon after. The Rashag ended up seperating from his wife.
Those Seforim ended up being mostly Apikorsishe books and a few other not-used Seforim. Neither was there any reason to suspect that the Rashag’s family was going to take away the Rabisteve at this late stage. Nobody could take away the Benkel.
go ahead , make my day
1. The issue is not about returning “the collection to the Chabad-Lubavitch group based in the Brooklyn borough of New York City” – since it never was in Brooklyn to begin with. Chabad in Russia might be better placed to make an argument.
2. The Russians are objecting to access, only to moving them out of the country. The current regime has no problem with either frum Jews using the books, nor with Russian Jews learning Torah.
3. The Communists confiscated a lot of things, and the Russian government isn’t about to start returning them to anyone. Given that there is no reason to antagonize the current (and generally friendly) Russian government (as if we have a shortage of enemies), Chabad should be content to have them available in a library in Russia.