Missing in Surfside: Judy Spiegel

by Tzali Reicher – chabad.org

A gregarious stockbroker with Merrill Lynch, Judy Spiegel was a dedicated volunteer at the Southampton Hospital’s Ellen Hermanson Breast Center on New York’s Long Island, on Holocaust memorial projects, and on giving back to her community in many other ways.

She grew up in South Bellview, N.Y. After marrying Kevin Spiegel—her husband of more than 40 years—they began to raise their family in Plainview, N.Y., before establishing themselves in Southampton. They had three children and became longtime pillars of the Chabad of Southampton community.

“Judy was so warm, nice and kind,” Rabbi Rafe Konikov, co-director of Chabad of Southampton, told Newsday. “Whenever she walked into a room, she filled it with positive energy and was always smiling and filled with life.”

In 2017, the Spiegels relocated to Surfside, and settled on the sixth floor of Champlain Tower South, where they became familiar faces in the community. With Kevin away on a business trip, Judy was alone in her apartment in the early hours of June 24, when it went down in the devastating collapse.

Spiegel’s daughter Rachel noted that her mother is a passionate advocate for Holocaust awareness.

“She’s very thoughtful, she cared about the details,” a tearful Rachel told The Associated Press. “She was certainly the matriarch of our family.”

Holding onto hope of her safe extraction, her friends in Southampton held a prayer service on Shabbat at the Chabad House, while Rachel Spiegel, who last heard her mother’s voice hours before the tragedy, told a local news outlet, ““No matter where my mom is, she’s with us no matter what, through thick and thin.”

The public is asked to pray for all who are still being searched for.

This article has been reprinted with permission from chabad.org