Schneerson collection

The branch of the Russian State Library in Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center was founded in 2013 specially for the Schneerson collection to be preserved and researched.

It contains significant portion of the famous library of the Schneerson dynasty, the founders of the Chabad movement — Chabad is the leading movement in Hassidism with the historical center in Lubavitchi village, nowadays Smovenskaya disctrict. The founder of the movement   — R. Shneur Zalman of Lyady — started to collect books for the library in the late 18th century, several generations of his descendants continued this work. In 1915 R. Shalom Dov Ber moved the library to Moscow. After the 1917 Russian revolution, Bolshevik regime nationalized the library. Thus, the Schneersons' library became a state property and was deposited to the Lenin State Library (today's Russian State Library). Schneerson collection features books written in Hebrew, Yiddish and Ladino that cover issues concerning Jewish religious law and practice of Judaism.