Jewish Outreach: A Lifelong Calling

By the time Rabbi Levi and Brynie Stiefel were old enough to follow their dreams of becoming Chabad representatives, all the major, easily accessible cities had thriving Chabad-Lubavitch communities.  But the unglamorous opportunity to spend their lives in a large, out of the way city more than 300 miles from Moscow didn’t diminish the Stiefels’ passion for reaching out to other Jews. 

So they packed up their Melbourne apartment and arrived with their infant son to Voronezh in the heart of the harshest, darkest parts of winter. The moment Rabbi Levi Stiefel, 25, stepped out of his family’s new third-floor apartment, he learned that along with leaving behind a hemisphere, season, language and culture he had traded Australia’s warmly welcoming Jewish environment for a city notorious for its strong nationalist politics. Simply put, there are many in Voronezh who are pretty overt about their distaste for all foreigners, especially Jews. Complete strangers stopped Rabbi Stiefel as he walked down the street down the street. “They are scared for my safety because I have a yarmulke and a beard,” he said. 

Their fears are not unfounded. Of the 39 political parties in the region, 9 have a pronounced national character, according to Olga Radayev, a reporter for Moscow News. The Voronezh branch of the nationalist Russian Unity Party, which uses “blatantly fascist symbols,” is considered “one of the country’s most active divisions,” wrote Mikhail Zherebyatev, a writer for Moscow’s Itogi Magazine. Last month, tombstones in the Jewish cemetery were vandalized. 

Where others see peril, the Steifels see opportunity. “Our main job here is to meet Jewish people and bring them closer to Yiddishkeit,” said Brynie, 24. “We don’t get sidetracked.” Dedication to fellow Jews runs in her genes. Brynie’s grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner is Australia’s venerable senior Chabad representative. 

Oleg first met Rabbi Steifel when he noticed his telltale Jewish clothing and flagged him down.  “Are you a rabbi?” Oleg asked. Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Oleg unleashed his life story. Raised in an orphanage, children taunted Oleg, calling him ‘Zhid,’ Jew. Oleg was desperate to find an aunt who had tried to adopt him, but disappeared in Canada after the fall of the Soviet Union. Rabbi Stiefel called Chabad centers and the Jewish Federation in Canada and reunited Oleg with his long lost family. 

Taxi drivers have taken notice of the Stiefels and spread word of their presence in the city. Several months ago, Yakav and his wife climbed into a taxi. The chatty cabbie turned around as he drove and said, “You won’t believe who was riding in this taxi just before you.” He described the young rabbi and his family. Yakav’s wife, a non-Jew, tapped her husband on his shoulder. “Your life is going to change.” Yakav was among the 30 guests at the Stiefels’ homey Passover seder. 

Official community rosters list 1000 Jewish families in Voronezh. Rabbi Steifel estimated there are more than 10,000 Jews in the city. He’s personally encountered 150 of them on the street, in stores and on his way home from the city’s synagogue. “Some remember their grandfathers’ Jewish practices. Some remember Jewish foods. Some hardly know they are Jewish,” he said.

Education of the young is the Steifels’ first priority. They are in the process of planning a preschool. Brynie taught in Australia and worked with children with special needs at Detroit’s Friendship Circle, a Chabad run project. The couple delivered a four-part lecture series on the Jewish approach to equality and diversity at one of the city’s top rated private English-language schools. With one of Central Russia’s most influential universities, Voronezh State University, and Voronezh State Medical Academy nearby, the couple is looking forward to meeting Jewish professors and students, many of whom speak English. (The Steifels are working on their Russian language skills with private lessons from a VSU professor.)

As Brynie spoke to Lubavitch.com, she was putting the finishing touches on a dinner she was preparing for a young family her husband met a few weeks ago. Over a home-cooked meal of chicken, stuffed tomatoes, apple crumble kugel, and roasted peppers, the Stiefels are getting to “know everyone on a personal level, not to let them get lost in a big crowd or put them on a list. We are building friendships” and living out a dream of touching the lives of fellow Jews in a land far, far away.