In a recent viral clip, Litvish businessman Reb Moshe Deitsch shared the powerful story of his life’s journey, from growing up antagonistic to Chabad to a late-night farbrengen in Cyprus, the shliach’s influence to become “an unofficial shliach,” and how an entire family came close to Yiddishkeit as a result.

By Anash.org reporter

Reb Moshe Deitsch, a Litvish businessman, recently shared a powerful story about his life’s journey – from growing up in an environment strongly opposed to Chabad to an unforgettable encounter with a shliach in Cyprus. That encounter, and the words spoken to him, eventually led him to become “an unofficial shliach,” and bring a family closer to Yiddishkeit.

Growing up in the Litvishe world of that time, Reb Moshe had been taught that Chabad wasn’t just wrong, it was completely off-limits. “Whatever they did was forbidden,” he recalls. To illustrate the extent, he shares a memory from his yeshiva days:

“Before Yom Kippur, I was coming home from Yerushalayim to Rechovot, carrying my tefillin. The bus driver noticed and asked me to help him put them on. But the way I grew up, I resisted. I tried making excuses, even saying I was left-handed. The driver, who was also left-handed, pressed me again until finally people around pushed me to do it, and he put on tefillin. That’s the way we were raised.”

Years later, after getting married, Reb Moshe moved with his family to Cyprus for business. Naturally, the Jewish community there was led by Chabad. To his surprise, he and his family were warmly welcomed. “I thought, why would they accept me? But they did, with open arms. We joined Shabbos meals, especially during Covid when gatherings were small and intimate, and slowly became closer with the community and with the shliach, Rabbi Shneur Levitin.”

One Shabbos – Gimmel Tammuz – proved to be a turning point. After most of the guests left, Reb Moshe stayed on with Rabbi Levitin. They said l’chaim and spent time in farbrengen, and the shliach grew serious, speaking deeply about the Rebbe. Moved, Reb Moshe opened up about his background – the environment he grew up in, and even the story of the bus driver and the tefillin.

By then, he had already come to admire Chabad. But Rabbi Levitin told him that he can do more. “A Jew is a shliach wherever he is,” the shliach said.

Reb Moshe objected, “But me? Who am I? I’m not a shliach.”

Rabbi Levitin explained, “Everyone is walking down a dark path. If you’re carrying a flashlight, why keep it to yourself? Share the light you already have with those around you. You’re anyway walking down the same path holding the flashlight.”

The farbengen and those words remained etched in his mind.

Eventually, the Deitsch family moved back to Eretz Yisroel, settling again in Rechovot. On Sukkos, Reb Moshe was walking to shul with his daled minim when he passed a father with two little girls in the park. The older one, about four years old, excitedly pointed out: “Abba, arba minim, just like we learned in school!” The father smiled, and Reb Moshe walked on.

But then, Reb Moshe remembered Rabbi Levitin’s words, “A Jew is a shliach wherever he is.” He turned back, approached the man, and offered to do the mitzvah of daled minim with him – so his daughter could see and enjoy it. At the end, he warmly invited him to come to Simchas Torah at the Chabad shul nearby. “I told him, ‘I’m sure your daughter learned about the Sefer Torah – bring her to see it.’”

To his surprise, a few days later, during Chol Hamoed, they met again, and he once again invited him and his daughters to come for hakafos. He came with his daughter, and they loved it. They danced with the Torah, and since then, Reb Moshe has noticed the man slowly but surely taking steps closer to Yiddishkeit.

“What amazes me,” Reb Moshe concludes, “is that it all came from the small but powerful message that Rabbi Levitin gave me – that the light you hold can shine anywhere. Who doesn’t want to be part of the light? And with just a little light, I was able to brighten the way for another Jew.”

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