Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn When the Lubavitch collection was confiscated in 1924 and given to the new Russian State Library, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak began to rebuild his library anew. He started by acquiring the entire collection of Samuel Winer, a bibliographer and collector of rare books whose personal collection comprised about 5,000 valuable, antique and rare volumes, scrolls, marriage contracts, and the like. Yosef Yitzchak continued to expand and supplement his library by acquiring volumes of Judaica and Hebraica of all kinds. When World War II began in 1939, Yosef Yitzchak escaped Nazi-occupied Poland and along with his family and some members of his secretariat, arrived in New York City. The library, however, remained in Poland. It took a year and a half for his tireless efforts to succeed in getting the library transported to New York from Europe, at the end of 1941. The Collection of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson After his arrival to New York in 1941, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson established a library for the purpose of serving the needs of the Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch. A year after Yosef Yitzchak's death in 1950, Menachem Mendel became the seventh Rebbe. He continued to expand his new library, and in 1967 acquired the building adjacent to his office, for the purpose of housing the sizable collection. Two distinct libraries were now maintained at Lubavitch World Headquarters between 1968 and 1985—the Collection of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak on the ground floor, and Menachem Mendel's collection in the annex. "Hey Teves" lawsuit The ownership of the Chabad Library was the subject of a dispute which ultimately led to the filing of a civil lawsuit, resulting in the ruling that the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, represented by Agudas Chasidei Chabad, were the rightful owners of the Chabad Library. The dispute occurred when Barry Gurary, the grandson of Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (the sixth Chabad Rebbe), removed books from the Chabad Library and began selling them for personal profit. Gurary claimed the books as part of his inheritance from his late grandfather. According to Gurary, the Chabad Library belonged to his grandfather's estate. Barry Gurary clandestinely removed numerous Jewish books, including a first edition Passover haggadah worth over $50,000, and began selling the books. One illuminated Passover Haggadah dating back to 1757 was sold for $69,000 to a Swiss book dealer who soon found a private buyer to pay nearly $150,000 for it. Following the directives of