A pillar of the Argentinean Jewish community, Roberto Yabra passed away on April 17 due to complications from COVID-19.

His son, 55-year-old Gavriel Yabra, passed away weeks earlier, on April 1, after contracting the coronavirus, while his wife, Teresa, 79, was battling COVID-19 as of the end of April.

Recognizing the need to cater to the kosher-food requirements of the Argentine Jewish community, Yabra was among the first to bring kosher products into the South American country from Israel and the United States.

After his passing, stories began to emerge of this humble man’s generosity. When a young man engaged to be married told Yabra that he didn’t have the necessary household items to begin his new life, Yabra promptly packed up some of his own furniture into a truck and sent it to the groom, his family sleeping on the floor until new furniture arrived.

“Sometimes, we received some comments and information about some stories of help that my grandfather did, and we doubted if these strange versions were exaggerated,” Isaac Hilel Yabra, Roberto’s grandson, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “But now there are nonstop messages about those stories, and we realize that they are true but Roberto never spoke to us about them.”

The beloved father and son were laid to rest side by side in the local Bene Emeth Sephardic cemetery in Buenos Aires.

In addition to his wife, Yabra is survived by another son, Claudio, and many family members.

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