Chabad Steps Forward As Tragedy Strikes Swiss Resort Town
by Leibel Kahan – Lubavitch.com
At around 1:30 a.m. on January 1st, a fire broke out in Le Constellation, a bar and nightclub in the Swiss resort town of Crans-Montana, during New Year’s celebrations. The blaze quickly turned into a mass-casualty emergency in the small Alpine town, which was unprepared for a disaster of such scale. As police and rescue teams rushed to the scene, victims were transported to hospitals across Switzerland and beyond, while families gathered desperately seeking information about missing loved ones.
As the hours passed, the scope of the tragedy became clearer. 40 people were killed and 116 were injured. Many victims had no identification, and parents searched desperately for children who had gone out to celebrate the new year and had not returned. It was later confirmed that three victims were Jewish: sisters Alicia and Diana Gunst, aged 15 and 14, and Charlotte Niddam, who was 15.
In the hours after the fire, Crans-Montana became a place of waiting — at hospitals, at police centers, at temporary information hubs — as parents, relatives, and friends searched for answers. Police officers, psychologists, and crisis workers arrived from across the country to support the grieving.
Next door to the burned nightclub stands Beit Yossef, the local synagogue. Rabbi Yitzchok Levi Pevsner, who lives nearby, was awakened during the night by the commotion. As the town began to absorb what had happened, he contacted local officials and began reaching out to members of the Jewish community to see how they could help.
By 5 a.m., the local kosher kitchen was opened and running at full capacity. While much of the town was either asleep or still in shock, pots of soup were already simmering and sandwiches were being prepared for first responders, victims, and anxious families gathering near the scene.
Roberta Belfere was one of the local Jewish volunteers. At 10 a.m., she began delivering food to hospitals in Sion and Sierre before heading to the family information center, where relatives waited for news about missing loved ones.
“I couldn’t imagine people waiting for hours to hear about the fate of their children or family members,” Belfere said. “Finding nourishment wasn’t something they were thinking about.”
After speaking with police and mental-health professionals on site, Belfere called back to the Chabad kitchen, and additional cars were dispatched with meals and water. When asked if anything else might help, the response was simple: chocolate. Volunteers rushed to the supermarket, returning with boxes of chocolates for officers standing outside in freezing temperatures.
On Friday morning, Frank Levy, who was on vacation in Crans-Montana from his hometown of Geneva, met Rabbi Pevsner at morning services — which had been moved to a temporary location due to the fire — and immediately volunteered to help deliver whatever was needed to the crisis headquarters. “At that point, it felt like a mission,” Levy said. “You don’t think — you just help.”
Rabbi Pevsner helped organize a volunteer task force to collect information as families searched for missing relatives. Working phone by phone, hospital by hospital, the group began compiling names — locating several victims before official lists were released.
With most businesses closed for the holiday, the kosher kitchen continued to operate until Shabbat, supplying meals to hospitals, emergency personnel, and families affected by the fire. In total, more than 600 meals were prepared and distributed across the region, with deliveries coordinated in consultation with municipal officials, including the town’s mayor Nicolas Feraud.
Israeli volunteer organization ZAKA also arrived to help with identification and dignity for the victims, with Rabbi Pevsner assisting them to work alongside local authorities.
Frank Levy attended the vigil along with hundreds of others in the center of town on Sunday to pay tribute in the aftermath of the tragedy. “Rabbi Pevsner addressed the crowd,” he said. “His message was one of unity — in a moment like this, we must stand together.”
