18 | 
JANUARY 30 • 2020

Jews in the D

to be identified as Esther. 
“None of my family are 
near the fires,” Esther said, 
“but there’
s a lot of emotional 
attachment hearing about 
the destruction. I hear about 
burned areas and I think, 
‘
That’
s where I hiked as a 
teen,’
 and now that entire 
area is gone. Or ‘
I went 
horseback riding over there,’
 
and I hear that all the horses 
in those regions died.”
According to Esther, life 
continues mostly unaffected 
for her parents, sisters, 
nieces and nephews, all who 
live in Melbourne. 
“My sister went on a 
holiday to Sydney and drove 
four hours through complete 
fog from the smoke,” Esther 
said. 

It is hard when something 
so painful happens to your 
hometown and you’
re far 
away, powerless to help in 
any significant way. 
“I keep watching and 
rewatching bush fire videos 
on YouTube and crying every 
time I see them,” she said. 
“I wish I could just hop on 
a plane to help somehow —
especially with rehabilitating 
all those animals. 
If I had unlimited 
funds and real life 
didn’
t get in my 
way, I would do it 
in a heartbeat.”
Rabbi 
Yerachmiel 
Rabin, director 
of Spiritual Care at Danto 
Family Healthcare Center 

in West Bloomfield, is from 
Sydney and has lived in 
Oak Park for more than 20 
years. His mother and sister 
still live in Sydney; he has 
cousins in Melbourne and an 
aunt in Brisbane. 
“My family’
s out of the 
danger zone, but they told 
me the sky over Sydney is 
clouded with heavy smoke,” 
Rabin said. “I speak to my 
mother every day — she has 
Alzheimer’
s and is sensitive 
to the smoke so she can’
t 
even go outside, for weeks 
now.” 
Even though his family 
isn’
t otherwise directly 
affected, thinking about the 
many Australians who are is 
hugely upsetting. 
“It’
s so sad, all those 

hundreds of people, their 
belongings, livelihoods,” he 
said. “I can’
t imagine how it 
must feel being in the line 
of fire, knowing my home 
is going to burn down with 
everything I’
ve owned in 
the past 50 years and there 
is absolutely nothing I can 
do to stop it … all that 
farmland, wildlife … it is 
huge, mindboggling.” 
Rabin couldn’
t help but 
compare how life continues 
in Detroit while this 
massive national disaster 
is occurring. “Here we sit 
in comfortable Detroit 
suburbia; we don’
t get 
hurricanes or any major 
scrapes. Life just goes on 
as normal. It’
s really just so 
hard to imagine.” 

Rabbi 
Yerachmiel 
Rabin

continued from page 17

T

he man accused of 
killing a 54-year-old 
Jewish Waterford res-
ident has pleaded not guilty 
to all charges.
 Adonis Drey Wilson, 35, 
was arraigned Jan. 24 in the 
Oakland County Circuit 
Court in front of Judge 
Jeffery Matis. Authorities 
have charged him with 
open-murder and second-de-
gree arson in the Aug. 27, 
2019 death of Stefanie Kroot 

Steinberg. 
 Wilson stood mute and 
composed while Judge Matis 
read his plea of not guilty. 
He will appear back in court 
on April 17 for a pre-trial, 
with his trial beginning May 
26. 
Wilson is represented by 
attorney Mitchell Ribitwer.
The Oakland Press report-
ed that during Wilson’
s pre-
liminary exam on Jan. 15, his 
ex-girlfriend testified that 
Wilson confided in her about 

stabbing Steinberg in the 
neck and eye before starting 
the house fire.
 Capt. John Thebus, fire 
marshal for the Waterford 
Regional Fire Department, 
was also called on as a wit-
ness during the preliminary 
exam. He testified that he 
discovered Steinberg’
s body 
on her dining room floor 
with a blade lodged in the 
back of her neck.
 After listening to witness 
testimony and examining the 
autopsy reports, Judge Todd 

Fox determined the evidence 
was sufficient to advance 
Wilson’
s case to the higher 
court.
 Wilson has also been 
charged with mutilation of 
a dead body due to the fire, 
and second-degree cruelty to 
an animal since Steinberg’
s 
dog, Casper, sustained inju-
ries during the fire. Casper 
was rescued and received 
veterinary care. He was taken 
to Home Fur-Ever Rescue 
where Steinberg initially 
adopted him. 

Waterford Murder 
Suspect Arraigned

Man accused of killing Stefanie Kroot 
Steinberg enters not guilty plea.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

