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2026-10-17T17:16:19Z

See also: add link to new page Public menorahs

Chabad Bot: New page: Agudas Chasidei Chabad (organisation; Gourary and Russian Federation litigation, court-record sourced)

2026-10-17T14:32:38Z

New page: Agudas Chasidei Chabad (organisation; Gourary and Russian Federation litigation, court-record sourced)

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{{short description|'''New York religious corporation founded in 1940 by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, described by courts as the umbrella organisation of Chabad-Lubavitch; owner of the Chabad library at 770 Eastern Parkway and claimant in the Gourary and Schneerson library cases'''}}

{{Infobox organization
| name = Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States
| type = Non-profit religious corporation (New York)
| founded = 25 July 1940
| founder = [[Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn]]
| headquarters = Brooklyn, New York
| key_people = Rabbi Avraham Shemtov (chairman, as reported in 2013)
| services = Umbrella body of Chabad-Lubavitch; holds the Chabad library in trust
| remarks = Plaintiff in ''Agudas Chasidei Chabad v. Gourary'' (1985–1987) and ''Agudas Chasidei Chabad v. Russian Federation'' (2004–2026)
}}

'''Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States''' (Hebrew for "Union of Chabad Hasidim"; often shortened to '''Agudas Chabad''') is a non-profit religious corporation registered in New York. It was incorporated on 25 July 1940, a few months after the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, [[Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn]], arrived in the United States.<ref name="Chabad2006">''Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Russian Federation'', [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-dcd-1_05-cv-01548/pdf/USCOURTS-dcd-1_05-cv-01548-1.pdf Memorandum Opinion], No. 05-01548 (RCL), D.D.C., filed 4 December 2006; reported at 466 F. Supp. 2d 6. Court record.</ref> US courts and legal commentators describe it as the umbrella organisation of the [[Chabad-Lubavitch movement]].<ref name="HLR">"Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Russian Federation, 528 F.3d 934 (D.C. Cir. 2008)", recent case note, ''Harvard Law Review'' 122 (2009), pp. 1985–1992, at p. 1985. Scholarly (legal) source.</ref> It is best known as the legal owner of the movement's central library at 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, and as the party that brought two major lawsuits. The first, against the Rebbe's grandson Barry Gourary in 1985–87, established that the library was held in trust for the Chabad community. The second was the long US case against the Russian Federation over the [[Schneerson library case|Schneerson Collection]] in Moscow.

== Founding and status ==
According to the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the sixth Rebbe arrived in the United States on 19 March 1940, and "On July 25, 1940, Agudas Chasidei Chabad was incorporated in New York".<ref name="Chabad2006" /> Bazyler and Gerber write that after arriving in New York, "the sixth rebbe established Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States as a New York religious corporation, with headquarters in Brooklyn". They describe it as "the world-wide umbrella entity for the orthodox Jewish movement called Chabad-Lubavitch".<ref name="BG363">Michael J. Bazyler and Seth M. Gerber, "Chabad's Lawsuit Against Russia: Using the Law to Recover Jewish Cultural Property", ''International Journal of Cultural Property'' 17 (2010), pp. 361–386, at pp. 363–364. Sympathetic legal-academic source (see editor's note).</ref> The same court noted that "Long before Chabad was incorporated as a non-profit corporation under the laws of the State of New York, it was an organization of Jewish religious communities located worldwide, with origins in the Russian Empire".<ref name="Chabad2006" /> In the Russian case the defendants argued that, because the corporation dated only from 1940, it could not have owned the Archive taken in Poland in 1939.<ref name="Chabad2006" />

In 2013 the Russian chief rabbi [[Berel Lazar]] referred to Rabbi Avraham Shemtov as chairman of Agudas Chasidei Chabad.<ref name="Forward2013">[https://forward.com/news/183459/russian-chief-rabbi-tells-jews-to-back-off-on-crit/ "Russian Chief Rabbi Tells Jews To Back Off on Criticizing Vladimir Putin"], ''The Forward'', 2013. Press.</ref> Its relationship to the movement's other central bodies, such as [[Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch]], is not covered here.

== The Gourary case (1985–1987) ==
On 5 August 1985 Agudas Chasidei Chabad sued Barry S. Gourary, a grandson of the sixth Rebbe, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. It was a "diversity action for replevin, also alleging conversion and trespass", brought "to recover some 400 books or the proceeds of their sale". Gourary, joined by his mother Hanna Gourary (the sixth Rebbe's daughter), counterclaimed that those books and the rest of the library "housed at a building at 770 Eastern Parkway, in Brooklyn, New York, owned by the plaintiff" belonged to them by inheritance.<ref name="Gourary1987">''Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Gourary'', [https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/650/1463/1663054/ 650 F. Supp. 1463] (E.D.N.Y. 6 January 1987) (Sifton, J.). Court record.</ref>

After a bench trial in December 1985, Judge Charles Sifton ruled on 6 January 1987. He found that "the library was never held by the Rebbe as personal property for his personal benefit and his private, as opposed to religious, purposes. It was held as personal property for the community's benefit and for charitable uses." He held that, on its arrival in the United States, the library "was delivered into the custody of Agudas Chabad with an express declaration that it was to be held by that corporation in trust for the benefit of the Chabad Chasidic community".<ref name="Gourary1987" /> The court dismissed the inheritance counterclaim and granted replevin. It ordered Barry Gourary to return the books, but stayed execution pending appeal.<ref name="Gourary2dCir">''Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Gourary'', [https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/833/833.F2d.431.87-7224.1302.html 833 F.2d 431] (2d Cir. 17 November 1987). Court record.</ref>

The Second Circuit affirmed on 17 November 1987. It held that "the district court's finding of an unequivocal intent to create a charitable trust--far from being clearly erroneous--is in our view rightly decided".<ref name="Gourary2dCir" /> This was a civil ruling on property and trust law. No criminal finding was made against Gourary. Chabad marks the date of the decision, 5 Tevet 5747, as the festival of ''Didan Natzach'' ("our side is victorious").<ref name="HayomYom">[https://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/6025/jewish/Hayom-Yom-Tevet-5.htm "Hayom Yom: Tevet 5"], Chabad.org. Chabad-side.</ref> The finding that the library belonged to the community rather than the Rebbe's family was later relied on in the Russian litigation.<ref name="Chabad2006" />

== The Schneerson library litigation (2004–2026) ==
:''Main article: [[Schneerson library case]]''
On 9 November 2004 Agudas Chasidei Chabad sued the Russian Federation, its Ministry of Culture, the Russian State Library and the Russian State Military Archive. It sought the return of the "Library" (books seized after 1917) and the "Archive" (papers seized by the Nazis in Poland and taken by Soviet forces in 1945).<ref name="Chabad2006" /> The main rulings were as follows.
* '''2006:''' the D.D.C. upheld jurisdiction over the Archive claims but not the Library claims.<ref name="Chabad2006" />
* '''2008:''' the D.C. Circuit held that both claims could proceed under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's expropriation exception.<ref name="DCCir2008">''Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Russian Federation'', 528 F.3d 934 (D.C. Cir. 2008). Court record.</ref> The ''Harvard Law Review'' note criticised this ruling for limiting the act of state doctrine "in a way that is inconsistent with the doctrine's constitutional underpinnings".<ref name="HLR" />
* '''2009–2010:''' Russia withdrew from the case. On 30 July 2010 the court entered a default judgment ordering the defendants to surrender the collection.<ref name="Chabad2010">''Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Russian Federation'', [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-dcd-1_05-cv-01548/pdf/USCOURTS-dcd-1_05-cv-01548-2.pdf Memorandum Opinion], D.D.C., 30 July 2010; reported at 729 F. Supp. 2d 141. Court record.</ref>
* '''2013:''' the court held the defendants in civil contempt and imposed sanctions of "$50,000 per day". It did so over the objections of the US government.<ref name="Chabad2013">''Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Russian Federation'', [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-dcd-1_05-cv-01548/pdf/USCOURTS-dcd-1_05-cv-01548-4.pdf Memorandum Opinion], D.D.C., 16 January 2013; reported at 915 F. Supp. 2d 148. Court record.</ref> Agudas Chasidei Chabad rejected Putin's transfer of part of the Library to Moscow's Jewish Museum. It said the move "does not satisfy Chabad's religious requirements or remedy Russia's unilateral seizure, retention, and claimed ownership of these sacred books".<ref name="PRN2013">[https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/russias-transfer-of-books-from-the-schneerson-collection-does-not-resolve-its-dispute-with-chabad-211622401.html "Russia's Transfer Of Books From The Schneerson Collection Does Not Resolve Its Dispute With Chabad"], Agudas Chasidei Chabad press release via PR Newswire, 14 June 2013. Chabad-side primary source.</ref>
* '''2024:''' the D.C. Circuit held that the district court "does not have—and has never had—jurisdiction over Chabad's claims against the Russian Federation". The default and sanctions judgments were therefore void as against the Federation itself.<ref name="DCCir2024">''Agudas Chasidei Chabad of United States v. Russian Federation'', [https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/cadc/23-7036/23-7036-2024-08-06.pdf No. 23-7036] (D.C. Cir. 6 August 2024), reported at 110 F.4th 242. Court record.</ref>
* '''2026:''' the Supreme Court denied certiorari on 20 January 2026.<ref name="Reuters2026">[https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-supreme-court-declines-hear-jewish-groups-bid-sue-russia-over-seized-2026-01-20/ "US Supreme Court declines to hear Jewish group's bid to sue Russia over seized religious texts"], Reuters, 20 January 2026. Press.</ref>

Legal status: the 2010 judgment for Agudas Chasidei Chabad was a ''default'' judgment, entered after Russia stopped taking part. It was not a ruling on contested evidence. The contempt sanctions were civil, not criminal. As against the Russian Federation itself, both were later held void for lack of jurisdiction.<ref name="DCCir2024" />

:''Editor's note: Seth M. Gerber's affiliation in the 2010 article is Bingham McCutchen, and his role, if any, in the Chabad litigation has not been verified. Agudas Chasidei Chabad's governance, officers other than the reported chairman, finances and its disputes over the 770 Eastern Parkway building have not been researched for this page.''

== See also ==
* [[Schneerson library case]]
* [[Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn]]
* [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]]
* [[Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch]]
* [[Berel Lazar and the Kremlin]]

== References ==
<references>
</references>

[[Category:Chabad-Lubavitch|Agudas Chasidei Chabad]]

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 * [[Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch]]
 * [[Berel Lazar and the Kremlin]]
 == References ==

Agudas Chasidei Chabad - Revision history

Chabad Bot: See also: add link to new page Public menorahs

Chabad Bot: New page: Agudas Chasidei Chabad (organisation; Gourary and Russian Federation litigation, court-record sourced)