07 Jan WHAT BOOKS ARE ON YOUR SHELVES?

While print book sales
were up less than 1% last
year, sales of the Bible rose
22% in the U.S. through the
end of October, compared
with the same period last
year. Many ascribe this
phenomenon to anxiety over uncertainty
with the economy, security, and the world
in general. It seems people are turning to
the Bible for hope, strength and faith.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
“Publishers say the books are selling
well at religious bookstores, but also on
Amazon.com and at more mainstream
retailers. People buy print copies to make
notes in and highlight but often supplement
them with audiobooks as well.”
As people who place a tremendous value
on the centrality of the Bible and on its
study, we see this trend is most welcome. A
woman once shared with me a story from her
childhood. She attended public school and
one day, when school let out it was raining
hard. Her mother came to pick her up so she
wouldn’t have to get soaked walking home.
As she entered the car, her mother pointed to

the public-school entrance and said, “I can
tell you which kids are Jewish and which
aren’t.” Surprised and curious, she asked
her mother, how do you know? Her mother
answered, “The children who put their
books under their shirt or jacket to protect it
and keep it dry are Jewish. Those who hold
the book over their head to keep their head
dry but sacrifice the book are not Jewish.”
Since our inception, the Jewish people
have placed a premium on literacy and on
study. As a result, we have been dubbed
the People of the Book. For us, study is not
relegated to scholars and the elite. There
is a mitzvah on every man to engage the
book, to learn Torah every morning and
every evening. Women, too, are obligated
to study the laws that pertain to them.
Indeed, the 613th and final mitzvah in the
Torah is the obligation to write a Sefer Torah.
Rabbeinu Asher, the Rosh, argues that today
when we don’t study directly from a Torah
scroll, this mitzvah is fulfilled when we buy
seforim, when we collect and learn Torah
books. Seforim, Torah books, should adorn
every Jewish home and be its essential décor.
There is a prominent teacher of Torah in the

greater Jewish community whose father
grew up with no Jewish background and
had never learned or open a sefer in his life.
When this teacher was a young boy and his
father was becoming observant, someone in
his community instructed the father to buy a
set of Shas to keep in his home. The father
resisted, explaining there would be no point
since he did not understand the words and
would be unable to study it. The person
said, “That’s not why I’m telling you to get
a Shas. Get a Shas and display it in your
house so your children see and understand
that their parents value Torah and its study.”
The father bought the Shas, his children
are now grown up and teach Torah all over
the world, and the father himself grew into
regular Torah study as well.
We don’t just learn seforim or collect
them, we celebrate them. Indeed, Chabad
this week celebrated a holiday, the 5th of
Shevat designated to the celebration of
seforim.
In 1985, the librarians of the Agudas
Chassidei Chabad Library began to notice
that rare books and manuscripts were
missing from the library. Simultaneously,
collectors and sellers of rare books began
reporting suspicious items entering the
market. After an investigation, it came
to light that a nephew of the Rebbe was
stealing books from the Chabad library
and putting them up for sale. When
confronted with his actions, he argued
that as a grandson of the Frierdiker
Rebbe, the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe,
the seforim were his rightful inheritance.
After several failed attempts to resolve
the issue through Beis Din, Chabad filed
a restraining order against the sale of any
more books from its library. They also
filed a lawsuit, and the case was brought
before federal judge Charles Sifton.
The nephew’s lawyers argued that the
books were privately owned and were
bequeathed to members of the family,
essentially his rightful inheritance.
Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, the Rebbe’s
wife was deposed by the nephew’s legal
team. In her testimony, she famously
declared, “I think they [the seforim]
belonged to the Chassidim because my
father belonged to the Chassidim.” Her
words and sincerity were compelling
and ultimately pursuasive to the judge.
The trial lasted for twenty-three days.
During that time, the Rebbe spoke about
it at farbrengens, urging his chassidim
to demonstrate how active, vibrant
and alive Chabad is by increasing their

efforts to spread chassidus.
On the 5th of Teves, 5747, corresponding
with January 6, 1987, almost a full year
after the trial ended, the judge issued his
ruling that the books belong to Chabad.
As the news spread among chassidim,
they employed a rabbinic phrase from the
Talmud: “victory is ours.” The intense
celebration that followed lasted for days.
The chassidim understood that this was
about more than just the seforim. The
ruling made a statement to the world that
Lubavitch was alive and vibrant and that
indeed, the seforim and the movement
belong to the chassidim, to the people.
From that day, the 5th of Teves was
designated as a holiday, “Didan Notzach,”
marked by the purchase of seforim, the
printing of sefarim, and the rededication
to learning seforim.
I had the privilege of visiting the Rebbe’s
Ohel this week on the 5th of Teves. An
enormous crowd was gathered, people
were dressed for Shabbos and wishing
one another a Gut Yom Tov. Though not
a Torah or rabbinic holiday, not a day that
appears on any other Jewish calendar other
than Chabad’s, I was moved by the simcha,
the sheer and authentic joy, enthusiasm
and love those who weren’t even alive
when the trial happened still felt towards
not only the judicial victory, but to the
significance and centrality of seforim.
If sale and study of the Bible is surging in
the U.S. in general, all the more so should it
be surging among our people, the people of
the book. We are living in an age in which
there is a proliferation of Jewish and Torah
literature in countless languages, in hard
copy, online, audio and reading devices and
on a diverse range of topics, themes, and
ideas. There is so much noise and nonsense
in the world today. Engaging Torah is our
blueprint, our manual for navigating this
complicated world.
Don’t just buy seforim, learn them and
celebrate them, not only on the 5th of
Teves, but each and every day.