Virginia Community Honors Legacy of Shliach

More than 400 locals and out-of-town guests packed an auditorium at a Northern Virginia Jewish Community Center in tribute of a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary whose dedication to his community would not be sidetracked by the three-year illness that ultimately claimed his life.

The Dec. 12 ceremony came 30 days after the passing of 34-year-old Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Deitsch, director of the Chabad Tysons Jewish Center serving the popular business district of Tysons Corner between McLean and Vienna, Va. The loss of the married father of four stung not only the local community, but also the network of fellow emissaries around the world, many of whom watched the ceremony’s proceedings online.

“I kept looking around the room and thinking that it wasn’t so unbelievable to have so many people attend the service,” noted Michael Medina, who described himself as a congregant and a close friend of the rabbi’s. “Considering the amount of people whose lives he touched, how so many people all over the world loved him and were praying for him, it felt right.”

Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, delivered a keynote address praising Deitsch for his nurturing approach to the Jewish community in Northern Virginia and called on all of those in attendance to carry on his work.

Deitsch, who had always wanted to be a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary, moved to Tysons Corner eight years ago.

“He worked hard,” congregant Richard Altman said after the memorial, “and built this community from scratch in only eight years. Through him, I rediscovered myself as a Jew participating in Judaism.

“I always participated in Jewish life,” added Altman. “There are lots of ways to do that in America, and I took advantage of those. But it was through Rabbi Levi that I got Judaism.”

Altman also took the dais at the service to comment on his personal sense of loss.

“I just tried to express my love for him as best I could,” he said. “Rabbi Levi and I learned Torah in honor of my mother. That was the match he used to rekindle me. An amazing friendship grew between us, but he was that way with everyone.”

In his speech, Kotlarsky urged the congregation to build a “Levi Deitsch Chabad Center” to keep Deitsch’s dream alive. Special donation cards were passed around, as well as pamphlets containing a short biography of Deitsch’s life and translations of some of the teachings of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, on strengthening one’s faith and trust in the Almighty in the midst of tragedy.

Despite the unpromising prognosis of his illness, Deitsch remained continuously optimistic.

“[Levi’s] motto was, ‘Think good, and it will be good,’ ” said his brother, Rabbi Chezky Deitsch, who moved to Tysons Corner a year and a half ago to help with the running of the Chabad Center.

“It’s tough to say only a little about him,” he continued, “because there’s just so much to say.”

That sentiment was echoed by many who knew the rabbi. In emotional outpourings both during and after the memorial service, they described him as “truly special,” “larger than life,” “inspiring,” “a magnificent human being,” and “a friend who cared for others.”

“He left a huge vacuum,” said Altman. “We needed consoling, and the memorial service provided that in hundreds of ways.”

Medina agreed.

“I think [the memorial] made people even more proud to have known such a man,” he explained. “I think it gave them hope that the community is still there, still doing things in Rabbi Levi’s honor and continuing the legacy he started at such a young age.”