Efrahim Kopel Meniuk, 82, Led Rio Chapter Of Brazil-Israel Commerce Group
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — Efrahim Kopel Meniuk, the president of the Brazil-Israel Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Rio de Janeiro chapter, died of COVID-19 on June 22. He was 82.
Born in Brazil to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, Meniuk led the institution since early 2019. Founded in 1959, the chamber promotes commercial ties between Latin America’s largest nation and the Jewish state.
“Efrahim Meniuk was a natural-born leader who was still in the full exercise of his duties,” Arnon Velmovitsky, president of the Rio Jewish federation, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
“He revolutionized the chamber,” added Velmovitsky, whose son Alex will replace Meniuk as president.
Meniuk was also a former president of Rio’s largest synagogue, the 1,000-family Associacao Religiosa Israelita, a Reform temple also known as ARI.
“His greatest legacy will be the great and genuine volunteering work he has done well for so many years of his life within our community,” ARI vice president Evelyn Freyer told JTA.
Rio is home to some 30,000 Jews, or one-fourth of the Brazilian Jewish population. Brazil has registered 1.1 million cases since the pandemic began, and the number of deaths reached 51,271 on Monday, the second-highest death toll in the world after the United States.
The post Efrahim Kopel Meniuk, 82, led Rio chapter of Brazil-Israel commerce group appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
