Messiah Roils the Art World.

The battle continues over efforts of Chabad-Lubavitch to have the sacred books and manuscripts known as "the Schneerson library" returned from Russia. The Russians continue to resist although this year, 5771, on the eve of Yud Tes Kislev the Rosh Hashana of Chassidus, they passed a law mandating the return of religious property to its rightful owners. Impact on the Schneerson library has yet to be seen. However,
the American court has recently ruled in favor of Chabad Lubavitch, which has angered Russian authorities. This issue has affected the art world. Russia now refuses to lend famous paintings because authorities are afraid the artworks will be seized as hostage until the Schneerson library is returned to Chabad headquarters in New York.
This news received broad coverage, including the New York Times and the Village Voice, which said,  "Considered by some Orthdox Jews to be the Messiah, Schneerson died 16 years ago, but.... Many of his followers don't even think he's dead..." 
(story submitted by Y.Newfield)

ARTINFO

Published: January 20, 2011

Russia Bans U.S. Art Loans In Battle Over "Messianic" Archive

Courtesy Flickr

The Russian State Library in Moscow currently houses the Schneersohn library.

Russia objects to the claims of the Chabad-Lubavitch organization being settled in a U.S. court, which it claims has no jurisdiction over the matter. Russian authorities have asserted that the collection belongs to the state because Schneersohn had no heir at the time that he left the country. However, the Rabbi had three daughters, and his son-in-law Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson became the leader of the Lubavitcher movement following his death. Menachem Schneerson... is revered by some Lubavitchers as the messiah.

It should be noted that many Hasidim believe Rabbi Schneerson to be a saint, and the library collected by him and his descendants – a religious shrine. Hasidim believe that the collection will open mystic prophecy that will enable them to expand their influence in the world

AFP (Agence France Presse)

Russia Threatens Over Chabad Library

Russia said on Thursday it would not send any new art exhibitions to the United States until the two sides had settled a dispute over the return of the Schneersohn Library to New York. 

15 Shvat 5771 (20.01.2011)

MOSCOW - RUSSIA said on Thursday it would not send any new art exhibitions to the United States until the two sides had settled a dispute over the return of a Jewish library to New York.

A US judge ruled in August that the Russian government must return an archive that once belonged to a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi but was seized by Soviet troops in Nazi Germany. The vast library is being claimed by a Hasidic group in New York but the Russian government insists that it is a part of its state archive.

Russian Culture Minister Alexander Avdeyev told Moscow Echo radio that Moscow imposed its US exhibition restriction in August and that the order remains in place. 'We stopped sending exhibitions to the United States in August (because) one American organisation made a completely illegitimate claim on this collection of books,' Mr Avdeyev told the radio station.

Russia had no intention of ceding the library 'which has never left Russian territory ... because we have our own believers who respect these books no less' than do Jews in the United States, he added.