Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  I appreciate your convening this hearing today.   The issue of the Schneerson Collection is one that I and many Members of Congress have followed closely.    It is truly impressive that  earlier this year every Member of the Senate signed a letter to President Putin asking that he assist in returning the Schneerson Collection to its rightful owners in the United States.   A similar effort is being been initiated in the House of Representatives.

One of the main aspects of the Helsinki process is what we call the “human dimension,” and the issue before us is not only one of legality but very much in the humanitarian realm.    The Schneerson Collection is not merely a library of antique religious books.  It is an inalienable element of a community whose lives are committed to honoring and worshipping their Creator.   Their preservation can only be called a miracle and their return to their rightful owners would not only fulfill a court decision, but would be a humanitarian gesture that would gain for Russia the gratitude not only of the Lubavitcher community but of the entire civilized world.     

I too want to acknowledge the undeniable progress achieved by the Jewish community in today’s Russia.  President Putin has played a major role in promoting Jewish culture in the Russian Federation.  Ironically, some of the Soviet Jews who left the USSR during the repressive days of the Communist era have returned to Russia.   

But the fate of the Schneerson Collection is, I would contend, an unexpected deficit in an otherwise generally positive record.   I would hope that the Russian Government would look at the suffering, the blood and the tears shed for this treasure of the human spirit and return the Collection to Chabad.  

A month from now, in Moscow, dozens of world leaders will commemorate the victory over Nazi fascism.  Restoring the Schneerson Collection to the Chabad community would be another victory, a symbolic one to be sure, over the forces that tried to eradicate Jews and Judaism.

I urge President Putin to see that the Schneerson Collection be returned, and I look forward to hearing today’s testimony.  I know that the accounts we hear today will inspire us to seek a just resolution of this issue.