Students at the first Jewish preschool to open in Serbia in more than 50 years learn how to make challah bread.
First Jewish Preschool in Half Century Opens in Serbia
Students at the first Jewish preschool to open in Serbia in more than 50 years learn how to make challah bread.
After 50 years without organized Jewish educational options, parents in the Serbian capital of Belgrade are ecstatic following this summer’s grand opening of a preschool by the country’s resident Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries.
Reached just before the start of classes, many saw the new school as symbolic of a Jewish revival nurtured by the 2008 arrival Rabbi Yehoshua and Miri Kaminetzky to this Balkan nation.
“The Jewish community of Belgrade suffered a terrible loss after the Holocaust,” explains Davor Salom, an early supporter of the institution who puts the preschool in its historical context. “After the war, Jewish kids were educated in a preschool opened by the only remaining synagogue in Belgrade. It was run mostly by Holocaust survivors, but it was shut down due to low attendance.”
For more than 50 years, the problem of a preschool remained unresolved, largely due to lacks of funding and enthusiasm. But when the Kaminetzkys opened their Chabad House, things began to change.
“In the past two years, they have hosted numerous guests at their home for Shabbat meals and festival celebrations,” says Salom. “This warm and hospitable approach helped them to gain a number of friends willing to support their idea of opening a preschool.”
According to Salom, planning took a year.
