Stolen Chabad Manuscripts Found

Senior US Federal Judge Royce Lamberth launched an international investigation today regarding sacred manuscripts of the Tzemach Tzedek belonging to Chabad, which are scheduled to be sold at the Moreshet Auction House in Israel next week. The manuscripts are part of the “Schneerson Archive”, looted by the Nazis and held illegally by Russia.

The investigation, which will involve US and Israeli authorities, aims to uncover how Chabad’s manuscripts came to Israel; the names and identities of the sellers of these and related Chabad texts; and any additional information relating to attempts to illegally traffic stolen items from the Schneerson Library and Archive.

As previously reported, just over a month ago, Judge Lamberth ordered a similar investigation into the Kedem Auction House in Israel, in connection with the attempted sale of the Talmud Yevamot of the Rebbe Maharash. The volume was subsequently returned to Chabad in the presence of US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and is now located in the Agudas Chasidei Chabad Library in New York.

Earlier this week, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Aharonov, chairman of Agudas Chasidei Chabad in Israel, visited the Moreshet Auction House in Jerusalem to personally examine the manuscripts. After verifying that these manuscripts belong to the Schneerson Archive — and that the pages were flagrantly cut out of a volume of the Tzemach Tzedek’s writings, in order to be illegally sold to the highest bidder — Rabbi Aharonov delivered a letter to Moreshet from Chabad’s attorneys demanding that the stolen items be removed from the auction and returned to Chabad. When Moreshet failed to comply, Chabad approached Judge Lamberth for emergency relief.

Rabbis Yosef Cunin and Rabbi Chaim Nochum Cunin, Shluchim in California who have been leading the decades-long effort to recover the Schneerson Collection together with their brothers and father, West Coast Head Shliach Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, were gratified by today’s significant ruling and the launching of the investigation.

“Our goal is clear. We will locate and recover every sacred page of the Schneerson Library and Archive, wherever and whenever it is located. Any auction house will now think twice before deciding to offer up the sacred texts belonging to our Rebbes to the highest bidder,” Rabbi Chaim Cunin told COLlive. “The law will follow where the books go until every one of the Rebbe’s seforim are returned,” he said.

“Sadly, additional texts from the Schneerson Collection, including several volumes of the Rebbe Maharash’s Talmud, have recently vanished from Moscow. We call upon anyone with knowledge or information about any person or entity who has other items from the Schneerson Collection that were illegally held by Russia, to contact Chabad or our lawyers immediately. Your anonymity will be preserved upon request,” he said.