She was born and bred in Great Neck, New York, an area famous for its suburban lifestyle, the US Merchant Marine Academy, and large Jewish community. So how did Debbie Waissbluth end up a rebbetzin in Santiago, Chile, a Catholic, Spanish-speaking city with many museums, pollution, and a minuscule Jewish population?
The majority of the Jews in Chile are descendants of immigrants from Germany Eastern Europe Greece and Yugoslavia who arrived in the years before and after World War II. Although culturally Jewish most have very little Torah knowledge; this is why Debbie Waissbluth and her husband Rabbi Chaim Waissbluth have such a receptive audience. As the rabbi and rebbetzin of Aish HaTorah Chile the Waissbluths are at the forefront of a growing kiruv movement in a population thirsty to learn about its heritage.
But how did a young New Yorker come to be an instrumental force in a community on the opposite side of the equator?
Debbie’s story begins years ago when she was still in high school. Always cause-driven and involved in various pursuits Debbie excelled in Spanish a skill her mother recognized as valuable. When she decided to major in speech therapy in college her mother encouraged her to continue studying Spanish pointing out that the ability to speak Spanish would increase her earning potential in the field. Little did they know where else this would take her.
In the meantime Debbie had begun traveling to Eretz Yisrael on her semester breaks to learn more about Yiddishkeit. “My parents unfortunately were very nervous about the security situation in Eretz Yisrael and every time I went they were terrified ” says Debbie. “When the second intifada broke out they begged me to come home and that was the end of that!”
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