LeDor VaDor: A Local Leader’s Commitment to Argentina’s Jewish Elderly

The Jewish faith places a high value on caring for our elders. For Jorge Fainzaig, Chairman of the groundbreaking LeDor VaDor home for Jewish seniors in Buenos Aires, that value has characterized his life every single day for four years—or longer.

"I saw the state of abandonment and deterioration in which the elderly in Argentina were living and felt that it had to change," says Mr. Fainzaig, a prominent, understated local Jewish businessman who has long been sensitive to this issue. "It is already difficult for an old person finishing his journey—but if on top of that he doesn’t have basic necessities, comfort, love, and someone to care for him, it makes everything more dramatic."

The son of Polish immigrants, Mr. Fainzaig is acutely aware of the sacrifices made by the generation before him. "I have enormous respect for what so many immigrants to Argentina went through," he says. "If they came without money, without language, and without schooling, and fought and were able to form the vibrant community that they did, how can we, with all that we have—money, education, family, and language—not take care of them?"

So he set out to solve this quandary.

Fainzaig enlisted JDC’s partnership in the planning, development, and funding of the home—a state-of-the-art facility modeled on cutting-edge American and Israeli examples. "JDC gave transparency to the project, and of course also put administrative structure on it," offers Fainzaig, who has been working intimately with Alejandro Kladniew, JDC Director for Argentina/Latin America since the idea’s inception in 2003.

The new building, located in central Buenos Aires near Jewish neighborhoods, replaces other facilities, such as the Burzaco Jewish Old Age Home, in disrepair outside the city.

A landmark accomplishment in its own right, the successful building of LeDor VaDor also evidences the resilience of the local Jewish community, a large proportion of which was plunged below the poverty line in the country’s economic crisis of December 2001.

"We knocked on several doors and everyone opened their hearts and pockets," said Fainzaig of the local community and organizations’ involvement.

Additional funding was provided by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, the Greater Houston Jewish Federation, the David and Inez Myers Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, and JDC.

In addition to permanently housing nearly 300 aging Jews in its modern facility, LeDor VaDor’s amenities have been thoughtfully designed to anticipate the various needs of its clients. The structure includes large multi-purpose rooms and terraces, a synagogue, a library with computers and internet access, a fully equipped rehabilitation gym, an occupational therapy room, and a special medical care unit.

A medical staff of geriatricians, psychiatrists, a clinical psychologist, and dentists work closely with a team of highly trained social workers and occupational therapists to ensure a holistic and comprehensive approach to maximizing the quality of life for the elderly.

The medical care is complemented by a variety of workshops and activities that keep these seniors engaged and alert, including art therapy, tango, computer lessons, body expression, and memory stimulation. Shabbat services are offered each week, and strictly kosher food is served.

Inaugurated on March 27th, 2007 in the presence of government and religious figures, the Home opened the doors to its first residents in May and celebrated an honorary dedication in October with delegates of JDC, including JDC President, Judge Ellen Heller.

For Fainzaig, who spearheaded the efforts of the local community, the presence of rabbis at the building’s opening was especially telling. "They show us that this project, which seemed to be Pharaonic, was done with the help of God."

Willing an outcome into reality, both working at it and believing in it at every stage, resonates spiritually with Fainzaig—because this is not the first time he has experienced it. When in 1989 his wife, a medical doctor, was diagnosed with breast cancer that had spread throughout her body, "we came to know a word that we turned into action," he shares. "Emunah—faith." The couple sought out the best medical treatment, including traveling to the U.S., and also embarked on their own spiritual journey.

"Thank God, despite such a low prognosis for success, today we continue to live beautifully. But this made us understand that in life the most important thing was not our personal interests," says the dedicated community leader. Which explains one among many reasons why a businessman who daily wears so many hats—the founding partner of an investment house, and chairman of a global economics corporation—has also served almost uninterruptedly in leadership roles in Argentina’s Jewish community, including more than eight years as Vice-Chairman of Tzedaká, one of JDC’s partner organizations in the network of Social Assistance Centers it developed in the aftermath of the country’s economic implosion.

"In the moment when we needed help, someone gave it to us," he offers, graciously. "We realized that we needed to help someone else come out of a deep well, too. We couldn’t live in a world of selfishness; we had to help others just as we were blessed with help."

That’s why when Mr. Fainzaig reflects on LeDor VaDor—the project that "went from part-time to full-life," he jokes, and "at the beginning took up two to three hours a day and today occupies my whole day and night,"—he is all humility and enthusiasm. "I am so anxious for these Jewish elders to enjoy their life."