A major anniversary in Chabad is the 5th of Teves. On that day in 1987, the Federal Court of New York State, after a protracted trial that attracted enormous public and media interest, decided unequivocally that the renowned Chabad library, once the personal collection of the Lubavitcher Rebbes down to the Rebbe Rayatz, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, belonged now to the official responsible body of Chabad-Lubavitch, Agudas Chasidei Chabad.
The trial featured an array of testimony from renowned Jewish bibliographers and experts on Chassidic history and philosophy in addition to noted legal experts. To be decided was whether a prominent religious leader had any personal interest in his belongings, particularly those pertaining to his position as leader – an interest his close family descendants could inherit – or whether he was so utterly devoted to his flock that his belongings in general, particularly those expressing his religious position, were a public trust held on behalf of all his followers.
The Rebbe Rayatz’s second daughter, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka – wife of the Rebbe – had always carefully avoided injecting herself into such issues, perhaps so as not to upset other family members. Here, however, the opposing side’s lawyers demanded she give testimony because of her close involvement with her father’s affairs over the years.
To protect her, the Rebbe’s aides tried to ensure she should not have to testify. But when her husband, the Rebbe, learned of this, he informed his legal team of his strong opinion that she would “pass with flying colors.”
Indeed, when the Rebbetzin was questioned and her evidence video taped, she showed herself not to be at all flustered by the experienced lawyers’ cross examination, giving clear, unequivocal replies. Asked whether the books had belonged to her father, she replied with deep conviction that “the books and my father belonged to the chassidim.”
On the video, one can see that, after she made this statement, the opposing side’s legal team immediately signaled to their clients that their case was all over. When the video was shown to the judge, those present in court say he was obviously favorably impressed by the Rebbetzin’s unexpected statement, which probably sparked his ultimately favorable ruling.
Of course, the Rebbetzin had not proffered a “legal” argument, and the opposite side immediately raised an objection, which the judge sustained. The ultimate decision, as the judge wrote in his ruling, was based on a letter the Rebbe Rayatz had written soon after World War II ended. He had succeeded in escaping to Riga, Latvia, and then to New York, in the war’s early months, but most of his valuable and voluminous library remained in Warsaw. In a letter dated 24 Adar I, 5706 (1946), he wrote to the renowned bibliographer Dr. Alexander Marks about the library, which now belonged, he wrote, to two chassidim representing Agudas Chasidei Chabad, asking him to write to the State Department about the library’s historical, scientific, and religious importance for the entire Jewish people.
The Rebbe noted this letter’s significance, which his legal team had not previously appreciated. Immediately they had the letter translated and it was soon presented in court. In his ruling, the judge called it a “remarkable letter” that revealed that, although the library had indeed been held by the Rebbes until the war as their personal property, a change had taken place in its status when the library’s safety was jeopardized for they had always held it in trust for the entire Chabad movement.
The judge’s carefully-reasoned ruling was not the last word. It was appealed, but on the 25th of MarCheshven, 5748 (1987), the appellate court upheld the lower court’s ruling. Within days, most of the books illegally taken were returned.
On the first anniversary of the lower court’s ruling, on the 5th of Teves, 5748, at his Shabbos farbrengen, the Rebbe spoke at length about the lessons we learn from the “redemption” of the sefarim. Unlike a sefer Torah, he said, which must be carefully guarded in a special place according to halacha, sefarim are meant to be studied. Every Jewish home should have basic Jewish texts that are studied and restudied, even if they become worn out, for buying new sefarim is no problem these days.
The Rebbe called for expanding the Chabad library (which is now one of the largest Judaica libraries in the world). He also called for everyone to increase their own personal libraries and making sure one studies sefarim – which is the greatest possible respect one could show them.