U.S. Attorney Announces Voluntary Forfeiture And Pending Repatriation Of 16th Century Hebrew Religious Text

 

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres confirmed the voluntary forfeiture to the United States of the Chamisa Humshe Torrah (Five Books of Moses), Venice, Giovanni di Gara, 1588, and Haftarot, 1589, Miniature, 162+60 Leaves (the “Di Gara Text”).  The United States anticipates repatriating the Di Gara Text to the Jewish Theological Seminary of the University of Jewish Studies in Budapest, Hungary (the “Budapest Rabbinical Seminary”), in the coming weeks. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “With this forfeiture, a small, but meaningful, piece of the history of the Jewish faith will be returned to its rightful owner, the Budapest Rabbinical Seminary. The Di Gara Text went missing for nearly 80 years after it was looted from the Budapest Rabbinical Seminary during the city’s occupation by Nazi forces in 1944. We may never know how it ended up in the Southern District of New York, but it is now returning home. My Office retains its firm commitment to protecting priceless cultural property and, where it has been illegally taken, returning it to its rightful peoples.” 

According to the stipulated facts in the voluntary forfeiture order, statements made in court filings, and relevant online publications:

Giovanni di Gara was a Venetian printer of Hebrew books in the 16th century.  The Di Gara text is comprised of two works from the Jewish faith: (1) the Chamisa Humshe Torrah (Five Books of Moses), or the Jewish Torrah in book form, and (2) the Haftarot, a series of selections from the Hebrew Bible. An image of the leatherbound Di Gara text is included below.

Lelio Della Torre was an Italian Jewish scholar and rabbi who lived from approximately 1805 to 1871.  At some point during his life, the Di Gara Text came into Della Torre’s personal collection (the “Della Torre Collection” or the “Collection”).  Works in the Della Torre Collection were stamped to indicate that they belonged to the Collection, as set forth below.

In or about 1877, after Della Torre’s death, the Collection was sold to the Budapest Rabbinical Seminary.  The Collection catalogue, which was published in or about 1872, is in the custody of the Budapest Rabbinical Seminary.  The Di Gara Text is listed in the catalogue of the Della Torre Collection as “(Homasc) Pentateuc. sine accentis et punctis vocal., Venetiis, 5348, vol. 1, in-3.”  The Jewish year 5348 equates to 1588 and the place of publication (Venetiis) is the Latin translation of Venice, Italy.

In 1944, in the midst of World War II and the Jewish Holocaust, Nazi forces invaded Budapest and seized and occupied the Budapest Rabbinical Seminary, looting its holdings.  The Di Gara Text is believed to have disappeared during this period. At no point did the Budapest Rabbinical Seminary deaccession—that is, formally remove from its collection—the Di Gara Text.

In March 2023, Hungarian officials notified the Department of Homeland Security that a volume that appeared to be the Di Gara Text was for sale for $19,000 on www.abebooks.com. AbeBooks is an online marketplace used by independent vendors to sell, among other things, rare books.  The vendor (“Vendor-1”), who was based in Manhattan, specialized in selling Judaica in various languages.  The description of the volume on Vendor-1’s AbeBooks page was consistent with the description of the Di Gara Text in the catalogue of the Della Torre Collection.  Furthermore, an image of a stamp in the volume was consistent with the stamp used by Della Torre, as set forth below.

In late March 2023, Special Agents with Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) met with Vendor-1 in Manhattan.  Vendor-1 admitted that he possessed the Di Gara Text, having acquired it during the 1980s without knowledge of its provenance, and stated that he was willing to give the book to HSI if served with valid legal process.  In early April 2023, Special Agents with HSI served Vendor-1 with a seizure warrant issued by United States Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses and took custody of the Di Gara Text.  On October 4, 2024, Judge Torres issued an order confirming Vendor-1’s voluntary forfeiture of the Di Gara Text.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of Special Agents from HSI’s Cultural Property, Art, and Antiquities Squad.  Mr. Williams also thanked the Hungarian Inspectorate of Cultural Goods for notifying the Government of the Di Gara Text’s presence in the Southern District of New York and providing helpful information to effectuate its seizure and forfeiture.  Finally, Mr. Williams thanked Vendor-1 for his cooperation in this matter.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin A. Gianforti is in charge of this matter.