Rabbis of the Outback Down Under

Two Chabad rabbis, Izzy Rudolph and Berel Fine, understand that sometimes a person has to go far to bring others close. The Rabbis are part of Chabad of RARA, a Melbourne-based organization that sends out tens of pairs of Rabbis every year to the furthest points of Australia, places that don’t have enough Jews to support a full time Rabbi.

The Rabbi pairs, known as *chavrusas*, also know the value of reaching out to another Jew, especially one who is isolated. Rabbis Rudolph and Fine arrived from America on June 30th and have already visited at least 40 Jews in the most northern part of Ahttp://www.crownheights.info/nucleus/images/button-aligncenter.gifustralia, and plan on visiting many more throughout the country. “Meeting these people has been the most unusual experience of our lives,” said Rabbi Fine as they left Melbourne on the five-day trek up north. “We just hope we will be successful in all we hope to do there.”

The Rabbis are sent out with a list of known Jews in the area and spend their six weeks meeting each of them and, ideally, finding new Jews to add to the list as well. Living and traveling in their now famous RV, or “Mitzvah Tank” as it is fondly called, Rabbis Rudolph and Fine are determined to bring the spark of Judaism to some of the most remote places in the world.

They hope to share Jewish thoughts, offer Shabbat candle lighting kits and Mezuzahs or even make Lchaims- anything they give is everything Jewish that most of these people will receive all year. “It’s worth all the effort,” smiled Rabbi Rudolph. “Who knows if the spark we bring will ignite someone’s soul?”

To follow the Rabbis on their journey across the outback, visit their blog rara5770.blogspot.com which is updated almost daily with stories and map of their current location.