Rabbi Michoel Pressburger (''Michael Pressburger'', he, מִיכָאֵל פרסבורגר‎, yi, מִיכָאֵל פּרעסבורגער‎) is a leading Austrian haredi rabbi who heads the historic

Schiffschul __NOTOC__ Khal Adas Yisroel, usually referred to as the Schiff Shul, was the main Orthodox synagogue in Vienna prior to the Holocaust. The synagogue no longer exists since it was destroyed by the Nazis on Kristallnacht. A building that was adja ...

synagogue in Vienna's second district where a sizable Haredi Jewish community once thrived in the years leading to the Holocaust. Today, the

is a much smaller synagogue serving the local Orthodox Jewish community while also serving as a sanctuary to Jewish refugees from Iran who transit through Vienna. Rabbi Michoel Pressburger was born in Vienna and has continued the line of succession to Bonyhád rabbis such as his grandfather, Rabbi Aaron Pressburger and his father, Rabbi Schmuel Pressburger. Aaron Pressburger was the chief Orthodox rabbi of Bonyhád until the start of the Holocaust and was murdered in

Auschwitz 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 ...

in 1943. "Kehilat Bonyhád" is a reference to the Jewish tradition that originated in the Orthodox community of Bonyhád and its surrounding areas in the late 1700s. Now in his fifties, Michoel Pressburger has been helping rescue and resettle Jewish refugee teenagers from Iran and elsewhere for almost 30 years. His contact with the post-revolution Islamic government of Iran as well as American and Austrian governments has put him in a unique position to help with this endeavor. Since the majority of the refugees go through Vienna before they receive asylum in the United States, Rabbi Pressburger and his synagogue have helped with their physical and spiritual well-being while they are in transit in Austria. Since 1983, Pressburger has headed an international non-profit organization to help with the rescue and resettlement of Jewish refugees from Iran. He has been credited with numerous daring missions to Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East and Europe with the aim of rescuing Iranian Jews who have been subjected to religious persecution. At least four of these rescued refugees were previously condemned to death by the Iranian government.Article about Michoel Pressburger in Mishpacha Magazine dated September 2, 2009, titled "The Undercover Rabbi"

References

External links

Schiffschul
austriansynagogues.com
Transit. The Iranians in Vienna. Photographs by Christine de Grancy
Exhibition at the Jewish Museum Vienna
Rabbi Michoel Pressburger on Helping Jews of Iran
(Video) Vienna, March 2012 ---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Pressburger, Michoel 20th-century births Living people Rabbis from Vienna Austrian Haredi rabbis Austrian activists Austrian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Austria–Iran relations Iran–Israel relations People from Leopoldstadt Year of birth missing (living people)