Rabbi Sholom Greenberg: Helping A Total Stranger In China

00:03 Speaker 1 I'm Gary Wolak, and this is Lamplighters, stories from Chabad emissaries on the Jewish frontier. Life as a Chabad emissary is often joyous, but it can be unpredictable and even dangerous. Chabad has become a ubiquitous presence in every corner of the world, but behind every Chabad House are emissaries, regular people striving to transcend their circumstances, and a community that supports and relies on them. These are their stories. In the spring of 2020, Michael Lazer-Bischoffberger was working as a music instructor in Suzhou, China. In late May of that year, he died of a heart attack just days before his 61st birthday. About 60 miles away, Rabbi Shalom Greenberg, a Chabad shliach in Shanghai, checked his messages right after the holiday of Shavuot. He opened one from Michael's niece, Vicky Fishblitz.

01:12 Speaker 2 And she asked me if I can help her going through the process of bringing her uncle to a proper Jewish burial.

01:20 Speaker 1 In Suzhou, a city of about 10,000 people, there was no real Jewish community. In fact, there were no Jewish cemeteries in China. The few that had existed before the 1949 revolution had either been destroyed or had been moved and essentially lost. So Michael's family wanted his body flown to Israel. Rabbi Greenberg had helped families with this sort of thing before, so he knew what documents were needed and which authorities to contact, and he knew that it had to be done quickly.

01:53 Speaker 2 The next of kin contacts the foreign ministry with instructions what they would like to be done with the body. The foreign ministry passes the information to the Chinese authorities, and they deal with it accordingly.

02:10 Speaker 1 But one problem was that Michael Lazer-Bischoffberger was actually born Michael Rabinowitz.

02:17 Speaker 2 Him and his sister were born in Donetsk, Ukraine. Later on in life, she immigrated to Israel, and he immigrated to Germany. When he lived in Germany, he changed his name. We did not have all the documents that we needed.

02:32 Speaker 1 There was no known birth certificate for Michael, and officials in Suzhou wouldn't release his body from the morgue without one. If a proper burial couldn't be arranged, Michael's body would be cremated by Chinese authorities.

02:46 Speaker 2 The officers that we were dealing with did not understand what is the rush. Add to this the fact that the f- sister and the niece are in Israel. They are trying to do everything they can to honor their uncle and brother and to bring him to proper burial. But during the time that they are mourning, they do not know if they will be able to. That added to the emotions involved, to the stress involved. It was not easy.

03:15 Speaker 1 Greenberg thought hard about what to do next.

03:19 Speaker 2 I had in my files an email from a Jew who lived in Suzhou, who emailed me a few months before asking me if I have a yahrzeit candle, that I could send it to him. That was the only contact I had with him. I did not know him. I'd never met him before.

03:35 Speaker 1 The man's name was Ed Frumkes. Greenberg contacted him and asked him...

03:41 Speaker 2 Are you able to assist us? Are you able to go with the police to the apartment? He immediately said yes, went as quick as he was able to to the apartment, went through the files, found the documents that we needed, sent it to the family, and we were because of that able to establish the fact that they are the next of kin, and therefore their wishes how to handle the body should be followed.

04:07 Speaker 1 The birth certificate proved that Michael, who had changed his name three times, was a German citizen, so Michael's repatriation had to be handled by the German Consulate. It seemed like Michael's body would soon be on a flight to Israel. But a few days later, Vicky Fishblitz again contacted Rabbi Greenberg.

04:30 Speaker 2 And told me with a crying voice that they have encountered two big problems, and they do not know how to solve it.

04:37 Speaker 1 Problem number one...

04:39 Speaker 2 They just found out that the cost of transferring the body from China to Israel will be approximately $20,000.

04:46 Speaker 1 Anna said she didn't have the money. Problem number two...

04:50 Speaker 2 The German Consulate informed them that when they approached the Chinese authorities in Suzhou, asking them to allow the body to be transferred to Israel, they were told that due to corona, there are very strict regulations not to transfer bodies from one city, one district to the next. It will be impossible to send the body out to Israel.

05:16 Speaker 1 Chinese authorities had informed the German Consulate that the only option now was to cremate Michael's body and send his ashes to the family.

05:26 Speaker 2 When I heard this from the niece, my heart broke, and I told her that together we will try to do everything we can to change this decision and not to allow this person to be cremated. God forbid that this should happen. We know that cremation is the most painful thing that we can do to a human being. We all have a godly soul, and the godly soul remains with the body after his death as well. When you burn the body, the soul feels it. It's like taking a person who is in coma and burning him. It's like taking a person who is asleep and burning him. The soul feels the pain, so this is totally unacceptable.

06:16 Speaker 1 So Greenberg reached out to his Chabad colleague, Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, for help. Teichtal is the chief rabbi in Berlin. He contacted the German Foreign Ministry. Soon, the German Consulate in Shanghai was lobbying Suzhou officials to respect the wishes of the family. According to Greenberg, local officials were surprised to learn that Jews are so adamant about burial rights. They agreed to find a way to get Michael's body to Beijing for a flight to Israel, but there still was the matter of the expense of transporting the body. Rabbi Greenberg told Anna that she could contact a repatriation firm in China and sign a contract with it, which she did.

07:01 Speaker 2 And I guaranteed to the company that I will pay them in full the cost to transfer the body. I had no idea where I'm going to get the funds from. I don't have these kinds of funds, and I do not know anyone here in Shanghai who was able to back me up with this.

07:18 Speaker 1 So Greenberg sent out a WhatsApp message to his fellow shluchim in China.

07:22 Speaker 2 Do they know any organization or any individuals that will be willing to help financially?

07:28 Speaker 1 One of his colleagues responded and sent the contact information of someone he thought might help. Greenberg reached out to him.

07:35 Speaker 2 He said that he will be willing to help, and I should please send him the invoice, and he informed me that he will transfer the full amount to the company. It was about $22,000. I was shocked. I was speechless. Here is a Jew in Australia that never met me, never met the Jew who passed away in Suzhou, does not know the family. All he knows is that there is a Jewish person who died in Suzhou and needs to be buried in a Jewish cemetery, and he needs help, so he stepped forward and helped. Amazing.

08:16 Speaker 1 You're probably thinking at this point, "Well, it's good that this story has finally been resolved," but not so fast. 39 days after he died, Michael's body was sent from Suzhou to Chengdu, but El Al officials there said his coffin was too heavy for the flight to Beijing. After more negotiations, that problem was resolved, but-

08:39 Speaker 2 El Al was not able to take the body to Israel because the Ministry of Health in Israel was requesting more documents for them to allow the body to be brought into Israel.

08:51 Speaker 1 El Al said it needed proof that Michael's body was free of COVID. When that was resolved, there was yet another problem on July 2nd.

09:00 Speaker 2 When we finally got the documents, El Al pilots decided to strike, so we had to buy a new ticket for the body to be transferred with Turkish Airlines from Beijing to Turkey, from Turkey to Israel.

09:20 Speaker 1 Finally, on July 5th, 2020, a month and a half after Michael Rabinowitz passed away, he arrived in Israel and was buried according to Jewish law. Rabbi Shalom Greenberg calls the outcome a testament to the Jewish people.

09:37 Speaker 2 They did it only because it's a mitzvah. They did it only because they wanted to help a Jewish brother that they never knew.

09:59 Speaker 1 I'm Gary Wolik. Thanks for listening to Lamplighters: Stories from Chabad Emissaries on the Jewish Frontier. We welcome your questions and comments about what you've just heard on Lamplighters. Please email us at podcast@lubavitch.com, and if you know of a great story involving Chabad emissaries or the people they inspire, please let us know about them. That's podcast@L-U-B-A-V-I-T-C-H.com. This is a Lubavitch International podcast.