Community in Tribute to Supporter

Hundreds of the Belo Horizonte, Brazil Jewish community gathered recently to remember their beloved supporter, Mrs. Judith Preminger OBM, who passed away recently in Jerusalem, Israel.

At the event, Rabbis, leaders and community members spoke about Mrs. Preminger with great emotion, expressing their gratitude for her inestimable contribution to Jewish life in the city.

Judith and her husband Israel Preminger moved to Belo Horizonte as newlyweds, over 50 years ago.

At that time, Belo Horizonte was home to a very small Jewish community, without a Rabbi, Kosher food, or other Jewish services available.

Even though they were just married, she and her husband opened their home as though it were a Chabad Center, inviting many for Shabbat meals, Pesach Sedarim and more.

They also arranged to bring out couples from Israel to teach Torah in the Jewish school, organized a group of women for Jewish activities, and encouraged the children of the community to study in the Jewish school and thus to receive a minimum of Jewish education.

When Chabad of Brazil began expanding its activities, she and her husband asked Rabbi Shabsi Alpern, the Head Shliach of Brazil, to appoint Shluchim to Belo Horizonte.

And so, due to their efforts, a Chabad Center was inaugurated in the city that is the third largest in Brazil, directed by Shluchim Rabbi Nissim and Rivka Katri.

Years later, seeking better education and a Jewish environment for their children, the family made Aliya to Israel, but not before lending their own residence to become the head office of the activities of Chabad in Belo Horizonte.

Even while living in Israel, Judith maintained close contact with the community of Belo Horizonte and her friends, coming to visit annually and remaining involved and assisting Shluchim Rabbi and Mrs. Katri.

While in Israel, Judith Preminger remained involved in humanitarian work, sponsoring, among other projects, a soup kitchen in Jerusalem that supplies meals to the needy and the activities of Rabbi Grossman in Migdal Haemek.

Her home in Jerusalem was always open to hundreds of guests, and became the “home away from home” for young Brazilian Jews in Israel.

In one of her last visits to Belo Horizonte, Judith with her husband Israel had the perception and sensitivity to notice that the facilities of Chabad in Belo Horizonte, then in a rented house, were small and inadequate for their activities.

On the spur of the moment, they proposed the purchase of a building site, which later grew into an ambitious project to build a new, magnificent five-floor Chabad headquarters, boasting a synagogue, school, event hall, kosher kitchen, and Mikva, which was built in their merit.

“Even 35 years after she left Belo Horizonte, her presence is very much felt in our community,” said Rabbi Katri. “This was expressed by the large amount of people in attendance at the memorial event. May her memory be blessed forever,” he said.