A Jewish woman was pronounced dead on Thursday, two months after a failed attempt to save her baby from drowning in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Rabbi Henya Federman, a Chabad emissary to the Virgin Islands, jumped into the ocean to save her four-months old baby daughter Sarah, who fell out of her arms when she slipped and fell.
Henya was pulled out of the water in critical condition and was fighting for her life in a New Jersey Hospital. The baby was pronounced dead on the spot.
Henya's husband, Rabbi Asher Federman, told Ynet of the couple's work to establish the Jewish community with Chabad Shlichim (envoys) in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The local Chabad center, adjacent to the Ritz-Carlton hotel on the eastern edge of the St. Thomas, routinely holds Shabbat dinners, weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. Federman spoke of the importance of placing the center near a hotel, so that Jewish tourists could enjoy center services within walking distance.
Asher and Henya maintained a steady supply of Kosher meals as well as weekly Hebrew lessons of the Jewish community's children. They've recently purchased a plot of land, wanting to build a Chabad center that includes a restaurant and a Jewish school, among other things.
Henya herself grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in an observant Chabad family and graduated a Hassidic school with an Israel teaching certificate. After marrying Rabbi Asher Federman, the couple opened a Chabad center in the island of St. Thomas in 2005.