Tragedy in Zurich: charedi governor and his wife perished in a fire

Eli Shlesinger, Shlomo Greenberg and Yoel Bitelman, B'Chadrei Charedim
Tragedy in Zurich: The couple, Governor Rabbi Yosef Elbaum, 91, and his wife, age 74, of blessed memory, died in a fire in their apartment last night.

Fire crews received the call shortly after midnight, but when they reached the attic where the couple lived it has been burned. According to eyewitnesses, the fire spread rapidly.

When the fire broke out at midnight, the couple was fast asleep. The maid was also in the apartment. It is not yet known how the fire broke out. The neighbors noticed flames towering over the apartment, rushed to call the rescue forces. The scene was quickly filled with fire engines, ambulances and police cars, sirens wailing woke up the sleepy neighborhood.

When they broke into the apartment, they noticed that the couple is lying dead, due to heavy smoke inhalation. The maid herself was seriously injured and was rushed to a local hospital for treatment.

One of the couple's sons also resides in the building, and the parents lived on the top floor, while the son lived downstairs. The son's family who were fast asleep escaped unharmed, as fire spread only on the top floor, and they were not aware of the great conflagration, until rescuers arrived.

Fire fighters were able to master the flames and extinguished them, but for the elderly it was excessively late.

During firefighting operations, several streets in the neighborhood were blocked, until the shutdown operations. Cause of the fire is still unclear. Fire investigators at the Zurich Police launched an investigation. Local police assess, the damage to the building is about 100,000 francs.

Rabbi Yosef was one of the proponents of the late Spinka Rebbe on Donolo Street -in Bnei Brak, he was a student of the Rebbe the Chakal Yitzchak, of Spinka hy"d. After the Holocaust he came to Canada and then moved to Zurich. The deceased was known to be very rich. His wealth was made from opening a bank investment in Switzerland and became known as a charitable superlative supporting institutions and local kollelim. His home was known to all the meshulachim.

The funeral of the couple left the Ashkenazi congregation funeral home in Zuruch, and continued on to Israel.

The couple will be laid to rest in Segula cemetery in Petah Tikva, where the deceased bought a burial plot for himself and his wife during his lifetime, in the Spinka chassidus plot. The Spinka Rebbe and his followers will attend the funeral.

The couple left behind observant children and grandchildren.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!