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The Argentinian jewish community expressed its grief for Edgar M. Brofman´s death, ex World Jewish Congress president who passed away yesterday at 84 years old in Manhattan. “We have lost one of the men that was beside any jewish community that needed support. He covered every problem that was related to the jews dignity. His personality is an example that must be followed in the new leaders of the WJC”, Julio Schlosser, DAIA´s president, said to the Jewish News Agency, AJN.
Brofman was the WJC´s president from 1981 to 2007, and in 2002, when Argentina was in a deep economic, politic and social crisis, he donated a Millon dollars to the Argentinian jewish community, AMIA, which was under Abraham Kaul´s leading, to make sure that the jewish education could go on. “He wasn´t just a leader, he was a filantropist, and he talked about our economic need in the WJC. Two months after we initiated our leadership he gave us that amount of money. Thanks to that we could pay eleven month income for 830 teacher of all the jewish educational net”, Kaúl said, also to AJN.
After Brofman´s action, Eduardo Duhalde, Argentina´s ex president, honored him with Libertador´s Order in Santa Cruz´s Grade to thank him for the support he gave to the country.
In 2006 the ex WJC president was received by Nestor Kirchner, Argentina´s ex president, in a meeting that matched the anniversary of the AMIA attack, where he was joined by DAIA´s ex president, Jorge Kirszenbaum. “He was a brilliant personality in the jewish world because he understood every problem and was close to the Argentinian jewish community. I visited Kirchner with him and we expressed our concerned about what was going on with the AMIA cause”, the ex leader said.
The Argentinian businessman Eduardo Elsztain also expressed his grief and said to AJN: “For me is the loss of someone that was inspiring. He always came to Argentina in the most critic times, helping like no one. You can tell that he came to help the community”.