Fact: The Rebbe honored this agreement to an extreme by keeping the Frierdike Rebbe's room as it had been on the day of his passing, and not merging the library of the Frierdike Rebbe with any other, or allowing the same employees who worked one library to work the other.
Fact: As long as the Frierdike Rebbe's wife was alive, there was no talk of changing this status quo in any way.
Fact: Barry had a friendly relationship with the Rebbe, even though his father had been promoted by his grandmother as the next Rebbe.
Fact: Barry drifted away from his mainstream Lubavitch connections, and only maintained contact with the personal friends of his mother.
Fact: The books were only removed from the Frierdike Rebbe's library, and only at times when no one could possibly be around. Barry was told by his mother that he could take whatever he wants. No one else knew anything about this.
Fact: Barry sold as many of the books as he could in the time given. The rest were stored in a warehouse, not at his home.
Fact: When the theft was first discovered, he was given opportunity to make amends, either personally or through a Bais Din. Only when he failed to acknowledge this effort was this spoken of publicly and brought to court.
Fact: Barry and his mother had asked various helpers around 770 to help him carry the suitcases out to his car from her room. One of these helpers on hearing what he had aided in attacked her. She sued the Rebbe, and it was settled out of court.
Fact: The Rashag had plenty of money saved up. He willed it to the Rebbe, and it was used for the out of court settlement.
My only contribution of opinion: It is nonsense to say that this was done because his yerusha was so precious to him, or because he needed money. His father had millions put away. The Rebbe in my opinion would have helped him if he had asked, or even if he had had his mother ask on his behalf. He didn't need to sell them, and obviously didn't care enough about them to keep them.
There is only one conclusion: The facts confuse the elements out there.
