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From Doctor to Patient: Kazakhstani Medal of Honor Winner Now a Hesed Client
When at 17 years old an ambitious and idyllic Carl Shteinmil entered the Odessa Medical Institute, he never could have predicted the turns that his life would take. Within one year — by 1941 — he had traded in his lab coat for a soldier's uniform and was serving on the Front Line. In his first battle, the young soldier and the rest of his division were taken prisoner. A directive was issued for all commissioners and Jews to be executed the following morning. But before fate could catch up with him, that night in the midst of torrential rainstorms, Shteinmil crept along the muddy ground, escaping certain death.
He stopped in the first village along the way, where he found food, temporary shelter, and help to wash the yellow Star of David off his back. On his return journey to Odessa, Shteinmil was taken prisoner a second time, landing in a Romanian concentration camp where he would spend the remainder of the war. In 1946 Shteinmil came back to his native Odessa and continued his education at the Medical Institute. There he met his wife, Esfil, who was studying podiatry. The couple then moved to Kazakhstan in 1950 to finally fulfill on their lifelong goal of helping others. "The young surgeon did all possible — and seemingly impossible — things to save people’s lives," reports one member of the community, highlighting an instance where Dr. Shteinmil was called upon to assist a sick child and noticed a woman lying in a neighboring room, experiencing difficulty in childbirth. "She has already lost consciousness. The surgeon performed a Cesarean section right on the kitchen table with whatever instrument he had in his hand. The life of the woman and her new-born child were saved!" Dr. Shteinmil's practical and scholarly accomplishments have been so remarkable, in fact, that in 2003 he was awarded a medal by Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbaev. This past winter, the doctor became the patient, hospitalized after suffering a heart attack. At his home in Tekely — a small periphery town 280 km from Almaty, near the Kazakh-Chinese boarder and between the Zdjungar and Oksanbay mountain ranges — Dr. Shteinmil began receiving care from mobile workers of JDC's Hesed Polina. Because of the couple's great distance from the JDC-supported social welfare center in Kazahkstan's capital, monthly food packages, medicine, Jewish books and other materials are made available to them through the local "Hesed on Wheels" known as Hesedmobiles. Dr. Shteinmil, 82, is one of the community's most voracious readers, dependent upon the Hesed's library resources for Jewish knowledge. Ever active in local Jewish life, Dr. Shteinmil and his wife often host Shabbat at their homes and participate in holiday celebrations and other activities. One of the "Hesedmobiles" workers described the couple as "a ray of light that warms people and brings Jews of the community closer to one another." Despite the doctor's recent health challenges, he continues to offer free medical consultations to JDC beneficiaries and others who cannot afford them. Additionally, he and Esfir serve as volunteer consultants to JDC-sponsored workers and volunteers, as well as to medical professionals. "Not only Jewish people turn to him for advice; he helps everyone who is in need of it." His motto, as it has been for decades, is "Work as consciousness allows you." Graciously, and to the immeasurable benefit of his community, Dr. Shteinmil is doing just that. |
