Sami Rohr Returns to Switzerland

By COLlive reporter
Photos by Meir Dahan

Miami-based philanthropist Sami Rohr and his son George Rohr, two of the biggest donors to Chabad-Lubavitch causes worldwide, concluded their Pesach holiday with a trip to Switzerland.

They arrived Sunday night, and their first stop was the Feldinger Chabad Center in Basel. And, unlike many of the other tours of Chabad Centers the two have had, this one had a special personal significance to them.

After Rohr’s family fled Lyon in unoccupied France in 1943 during World War II, they were smuggled into Switzerland. Sami’s parents were taken to a refugee camp in Morgin, while he was sent to a children’s home near Basel. Soon after, some members of Basel’s Jewish community took the refugee children home to care for them. Rohr was welcomed into the home of Shlomo Zalman and Recha Feldinger, who treated him as a complete equal among their children.

“They showed him rare compassion,” says Rabbi Zalman Wishedski, who with his wife Devorah runs Chabad-Lubavitch of Basel.

“(Sami Rohr) told me that on his first Shabbos meal with the family, the father asked who is the oldest and when it was clear that Sami was, he enjoyed the privileges of a first son,” Wishedski said.

The building, which began hosting activities in 2008, includes a shul, social hall, lecture rooms and a game room for children.

A festive ceremony welcoming the Rohrs will be taking place on Monday.