Judah Samet (; February 5, 1938 – September 27, 2022) was a Hungarian-American businessman, speaker, and
Holocaust survivor
Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...
. At the age of six, he and his family were taken from
Debrecen
Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...
, Hungary, to the
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concent ...
, where they spent eleven months. After the Second World War the family
immigrated to Israel, where he subsequently served in the
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
and worked as a teacher. He later moved to Canada and then to the United States. In 2018, he was a witness to and survivor of the
Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting was an antisemitic terrorist attack which took place at the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The congregation, alo ...
. He was a jeweler and speaker in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, Pennsylvania.
Early life
Judah Samet was born in
Debrecen
Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...
, Hungary on February 5, 1938, to an
Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
family.
His parents owned and managed two
knitting
Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine.
Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...
factories and had four children: two sons, Moshe and Yakove, both older than Judah, and the youngest, a daughter, Henyah.
The family lived across the street from the synagogue.
Holocaust
In March 1944, Nazis entered Debrecen and forced thousands of Jews into railcars with limited space, food and water.
Samet remembers them being ignored by other citizens.
He was with his family in a train going to the
Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
, but it was rerouted to the
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concent ...
after Czechoslovak partisans reportedly destroyed train tracks.
Samet's father had received tickets and passports to emigrate to the United States but the family was not able to leave in time.
Before they were sent to Bergen-Belsen, Samet and his family were held at a lumberyard in Austria.
They got to the camp around July 1944,
where Samet could only eat flavored water ("soup") and "moldy, rock-hard bread" every day, and sometimes bit bones to try to ease the starvation.
Samet and his siblings would receive some bread from their mother,
which he described as the reason they stayed alive.
Samet's mother told him to eat lice, which had infected the camp.
A German soldier contemplated killing Samet's mother because she asked for more supplies, but his superior officer decided to keep her as an interpreter for the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
.
A fellow inmate of Samet's performed a surgery on Samet's
abscess
An abscess is a collection of pus that has built up within the tissue of the body. Signs and symptoms of abscesses include redness, pain, warmth, and swelling. The swelling may feel fluid-filled when pressed. The area of redness often extends b ...
on the back of his head.
After eleven months in the camp Samet and his family were sent by train to an unknown location.
It was speculated that they were going to the
Theresienstadt Ghetto
Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination cam ...
,
or off a bridge.
The train stopped in a forest close to Berlin, and an armored tank
or infantry
division showed up.
Samet's father then pointed out that the tank's commander was American,
and he was later revealed to be a Jew. Samet's father Yekutil died a week later from
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
.
Through
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, Samet and his family moved to Israel in 1946, where they lived in an Orthodox orphanage.
Samet graduated from a seminary high school.
Career and activities
After graduation Samet served in the
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
'
Paratroopers Brigade
The 35th Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת הַצַּנְחָנִים, ''Hativat HaTzanhanim''), also known as the Paratroopers Brigade, is an infantry brigade unit of paratroopers within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and forms a major part of ...
.
His brother Jacob died in the
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
as a machine gunner for the IDF.
He also worked as a teacher and managed two towns for the government of Israel.
Joining family members, Samet moved to
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
in 1961 and subsequently to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
In New York City, he worked at his uncle's coat factory.
He met a teacher from
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, Barbara, whom he later married and with whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth.
Samet moved to Pittsburgh in 1962.
He attended
Duquesne University
Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Duquesne first opened as the Pittsbu ...
but did not graduate.
In the Downtown Pittsburgh Clark Building, Samet managed and ultimately owned Irving Schiffman Jewelers, founded in 1941 by his father-in-law.
Samet also worked as a teacher.
He served for 40 years as a Torah reader and
cantor
A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds.
In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...
at the Conservative
Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation
Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation () is a Conservative Jewish synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The congregation moved into its present synagogue building in 1953. It merged with Congregation Or L'S ...
, where he had been a member since 1964.
From 2011, Samet gave public speeches about his life at high schools, universities, and churches.
He said that he was "energized" by the positive reception of his speeches.
Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
On October 27, 2018, eleven Jews were killed and seven injured in a mass shooting during
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
services at the Tree of Life building, marking the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Samet was four or five minutes late to the service because he had been delayed by his housekeeper.
When he pulled into a handicapped spot on the parking lot, he was approached by a man who told him to leave due to the active shooter.
Before pulling out of the parking lot unharmed, Samet had a clear vision of the shooting exchange between the gunman and a police officer.
![2019 State of the Union (46305878794)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/2019_State_of_the_Union_%2846305878794%29.jpg)
U.S. President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
invited Samet to be one of his personal guests at the
2019 State of the Union Address
The 2019 State of the Union Address was given by the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump, on February 5, 2019, at 9:00 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 116th United States Congress. It w ...
, which Trump gave on February 5, 2019.
Samet visited the White House and met President Trump, First Lady
Melania Trump
Melania Trump ( ; born Melanija Knavs , Germanized as Melania Knauss ; born April 26, 1970) is a Slovene-American former model and businesswoman who served as First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of 45th president Do ...
, First Daughter
Ivanka Trump
Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump (; born October 30, 1981) is an American businesswoman and the first daughter of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. She was a senior advisor in his administration, and also was the ...
, and Senior Advisor to the President
Jared Kushner
Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He served as a senior advisor to 45th U.S. president Donald Trump, his father-in-law. Since leaving the White House, Kushner founded Affinity Partners, a pri ...
.
After Trump introduced Samet in the Address and noted that it was Samet's 81st birthday, the crowd applauded, gave him a standing ovation, and sang "
Happy Birthday" to him.
Samet smiled, blew a kiss, waved down to Trump, stood up, bowed his head, and shouted "thank you". Trump jokingly conducted with his hands and said, "They wouldn't do that for me".
He was not wearing his
kippah
A , , or , plural ), also called ''yarmulke'' (, ; yi, יאַרמלקע, link=no, , german: Jarmulke, pl, Jarmułka or ''koppel'' ( yi, קאפל ) is a brimless cap, usually made of cloth, traditionally worn by Jewish males to fulfill the c ...
at the Address because a government employee had told him "nobody wears a hat here" upon entering the House Chamber.
Samet later said that he admired Trump and called him a "working man".
A Republican, Samet supported Trump, saying about him: "I like him very much. He is strongly pro-Israel. That a man would go outright for Israel and
declare for Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel ... that was something new."
He was, however, not politically active, as opposed to his Democratic family members.
Personal life and death
Samet died from complications of stomach cancer in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, on September 27, 2022, at the age of 84.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samet, Judah
1938 births
2022 deaths
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors
American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
American jewellers
Businesspeople from Pittsburgh
Deaths from cancer in Pennsylvania
Deaths from stomach cancer
Hungarian Orthodox Jews
American Orthodox Jews
People from Debrecen
20th-century Israeli military personnel
Duquesne University alumni
American shooting survivors
20th-century American businesspeople
21st-century American businesspeople
American Zionists