The unusual story began in 2023 when management decided to close the local branch of the largest Jewish school in Rio, Collegio A. Liessin, which had been open for eight decades. The school is one of five Jewish schools in the city and the only one in the area. Mr Zeiger gathered a group of parents who negotiated with the school to keep it running the next year by getting donors. Seeing the numbers were highly promising, the parents realised last year that to make real change and keep the school open long term, it would be necessary to own it, he said. “If we lost the Jewish school, within 10 years the community would be assimilated.”