In a message, Rabbi of the Chabad community in Serbia Yehoshua Kaminetzky, Chief of Budapest’s Orthodox Rabbinate Báruch Oberlander and member of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Heritage in Hungary Public Endowment György Szabó thanked Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for Hungary’s help, as part of which they sent kosher food aid to the Jewish community in Belgrade amidst the supply difficulties caused by the coronavirus epidemic, Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister’s press chief informed the Hungarian news agency MTI.

During the months of the coronavirus crisis, the Belgrade Chabad-Lubavitz community was left without kosher food, and this made the exercise of the Jewish faith difficult, they wrote, adding that the Hungarian Foreign Ministry and staff members of the Hungarian Embassy in Belgrade made it possible – “defying the impossible, at the expense of enormous efforts” – for an aid supply of kosher food to be sent from Hungary to Serbia last week. It is to be hoped that with this supply the community will be able to survive the coming difficult weeks.

“It was heart-warming to see the selfless good intention, the compassion, and the unity. We are proud that as an integral part of the Hungarian nation, together with the country’s decision-makers, we have been able to help our Belgrade fellow-believers in need,” they wrote in the message.

“We would like to wish you good health and much strength with your continued country-building effort,” the Jewish leaders wrote in conclusion.


(The Prime Minister / MTI)