While Pico-Robertson has long attracted young Jewish families, now, homes with $1.5 million-plus price tags are out of reach for many of them. Rather than going to the Valley or leaving L.A. altogether, a number of families are moving east into the Picfair Village neighborhood, where they can more easily afford homes.
The only issue is that they’re farther away from synagogues, meaning they have to walk a mile or more on Shabbat to go to services if they are observant. Rabbi Eli Muchnik, 30, and his wife Bassie, 27, are now looking to solve this problem, with the opening of their new shul, Chabad of Picfair Village. Since last Purim, the couple has been holding events and providing religious services to the community.
“There are many Jewish people in Picfair Village, and some of them are not connected to their Judaism at all,” said Eli. “We thought that if there was a center there, it would give people a sense of community and they’d want to get more involved.”
The Muchniks only knew one family in the Picfair community through Chabad of SOLA, Bassie’s father Rabbi Avraham Zajac’s shul at 1627 S La Cienega Blvd. That family introduced them to others, and it snowballed from there. Eli also goes around the neighborhood looking for mezuzahs on people’s doors, dropping off challah for Shabbat and helping men wrap tefillin.
“I met a Jewish person walking his dog and he didn’t know what tefillin was,” Eli said. “He said that one of his parents was Jewish, but that train [to be Jewish] had left a long time ago. I said, ‘Hey, listen, you’re Jewish, and I want to offer you to do a mitzvah.’ He agreed and on the street, we put on tefillin and exchanged phone numbers.”
Since the Muchniks are still trying to secure a physical location for the shul, and eventually a Sunday Hebrew school, they are running events out of people’s homes right now. They held a Purim megillah reading, a minyan and Friday night meal, a Shofar factory where attendees could make their own shofars and a shofar blowing for Rosh Hashanah. On Chanukah, the couple plans to do a combined event with Chabad of SOLA and light a menorah at the Von’s on Pico and Fairfax.
“There are tons of Jews that we’ve been meeting and they are looking for a community and connection.”
– Bassie Muchnik
“There are tons of Jews that we’ve been meeting and they are looking for a community and connection,” Bassie said. “Every time we knock on people’s doors and drive through the neighborhood, we see another mezuzah.”
Whenever anyone moves into the community or just needs a mezuzah on their home, Eli will go and install it. “I never got a ‘Sorry, I’m not interested,’ when talking to people,” Eli said. “Everyone here is very open-minded and respectful. Many times, they invite us in and we talk about what’s going on and where they are holding with their Judaism.”
Eli and Bassie both grew up in the Chabad community; Eli lived in Crown Heights and is the son of world-renowned Chasidic artist Michoel Muchnik, while Bassie was involved in her father’s Chabad house in Brazil, and then SOLA when her family moved to Los Angeles and started the shul 14 years ago.
Chabad of Picfair, just like all Chabads, won’t charge a membership fee. It’s non-denominational, and the community it serves will fund 95% of services.
The couple envisions a future in which the Picfair area is bustling with Jewish families — and they want to be there to serve them, no matter what the request.
“We will be available for anybody living in that area as a beacon of light for anything they need, whether it’s a senior who needs a hot meal and can’t get out of the house or someone who wants to be involved because they have a bar mitzvah or wedding,” said Eli. “That’s the big plan: to have a thriving Jewish community.”
