Floodwaters Destroy City’s Chabad Soup Kitchen and Provisions

After torrential rains flooded Bahia Blanca, Argentina — a port town 400 miles south of Buenos Aires — the country’s Chabad representatives are coordinating a massive aid and cleanup effort together with the city’s Chabad representatives, Rabbi Shmuel and Shterni Freedman.

The Freedmans and their small children were rescued by a military vehicle from the second story balcony of their flooded home on Friday afternoon, March 7. But the rabbi quickly returned to the city with student volunteers, distributing water, food, clothing and shoes. “We are trying to assess the situation here,” the rabbi told Lubavitch.com. “A lot of the city is still without electricity and cell phone service. We will visit as many people personally as we can.”

The flooding hit the city’s poor especially hard, straining the resources of organizations who aid them — including Chabad, which routinely distributes food, medicine and financial aid to hundreds of families. Now, tons of food earmarked for the city’s poor were ruined by the floodwaters, which destroyed the first-floor soup kitchen at the Chabad center. 

Rabbi Tzvi Grunblatt, director of Chabad of Argentina, coordinated the delivery of a truckload of critically-needed supplies — accompanied by Chabad rabbinical student volunteers.

Chabad of Bahia Blanca was founded in 1985 by Rabbi Moshe and Sarah Freedman. After Rabbi Moshe’s passing in 2016, his son and daughter-in-law, Rabbi Shmuel and Shterni Freedman moved to the city to serve as its Chabad reps, along with Mrs. Sarah Freedman. The center serves many impoverished people among the city’s estimated 500 Jewish families. 

Rabbi Shmuel’s nine siblings — today serving Jewish communities around the world — used their familiarity with the community and the language to help their childhood hometown, calling every member of the community, triaging needs, and directing volunteers to those affected.

With the floodwaters receding, the long and arduous task of cleanup and restoration has begun. “This is a Hurricane Katrina-level event for the city,” said Rabbi Mendy Freedman, of Lyndhurst Ohio. He’s been helping to coordinate the reconstruction efforts. “The volunteers will be here for weeks, helping restore homes and distribute aid.”

With the holiday of Purim a few days away, they also gave out mishloach manot gift packages, bringing festive cheer to so many struggling to recover.

To contribute to the restoration of Chabad of Bahia Blanca, click here.