Clinton to Bring Home Jewish Books
President Clinton is bringing home seven books from his trip to Russia, marking a quiet breakthrough in a long feud over works claimed by the Lubavitcher sect of Hasidic Jews.
The Orthodox Jewish sect claims a collection of 12,000 books and manuscripts that have been held by Russian authorities since early this century.
With Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin’s approval, Clinton’s aides were able to obtain from the Russian Library seven books from the collection for turning over to the U.S. Library of Congress on a loan basis, White House officials said.
Clinton’s aides hope the release will begin an evolutionary process that will lead to a turning over of the collection to the Lubavitchers, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based sect begun in Europe in the 1730s.
The books include writings on Jewish thought and teaching. They had been in possession of the sect until World War I, when the Germans advanced on Russia and the books were taken for safekeeping.
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