Editing Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (section)

== Book collection ==
During his life in [[Smolensk Governorate|Smolensk]], Rabbi Schneersohn set up a collection of his family's religious books and writings. It includes texts dating back to the 16th century. After World War I, the Bolsheviks found part of the collection and moved it to the [[Russian State Library]]. Another part of the collection was confiscated by Soviet troops in Nazi Germany during World War II and moved to Russia's military archive. In 1994, seven books were loaned to the [[U.S. Library of Congress]] for 60 days through an inter-library exchange program.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/russian-court-demands-u-library-congress-hand-over-202331936.html|title=Russian court demands U.S. Library of Congress hand over Jewish texts|date=23 May 2014|agency=Reuters|access-date=23 May 2014}}</ref>

The books were given to the [[Library of Agudas Chassidei Chabad|Chabad-Lubavitch library]] which helped to prolong the use of the books twice, in 1995 and 1996, before they finally refused to return them to Russia in 2000. They proposed an exchange for the opportunity to keep the books indefinitely, but Russia refused. In 2004, the Chabad-Lubavitch filed a lawsuit against Russia, claiming the remaining books. In 2010, an American court granted their claim, which Russia ignored as invalid.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} In retaliation, in 2011 Russia put a ban on lending works to American museums. In 2014, Senior United States District Judge [[Royce C. Lamberth]] imposed fines of $50,000 a day for Russia refusing to return the Schneersohn collection of more than 12,000 books and 50,000 religious papers. Since Rabbi Schneersohn had no heirs, Russia claims the collection is a [[national treasure]] of the Russian people. This dispute is related to the deteriorating ties between Moscow and the U.S. over the ongoing [[2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/world/europe/russia-warns-of-retaliation-over-us-ruling-on-jewish-collection.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0|title=Russia Warns of Retaliation Over U.S. Ruling on a Jewish Collection|date=17 January 2013|work=The New York Times|access-date=17 January 2013}}</ref> A Russian court ruled that the Library of Congress should pay fines of $50,000 a day for refusing to return the books.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://forward.com/articles/198748/russia-court-demands--hasidic-trove-books-back/|title=Russia Court Demands 7 Hasidic Trove Books Back – Sets 50K-a-Day Fine|date=22 May 2014|work=The Jewish Daily Forward|access-date=22 May 2014}}</ref>