One in a Million

That was the refrain Rabbi Moshe Grylak’s family heard throughout his life. This week, his 87 years of devoted service came to a close, and there was no doubt that he had fulfilled his mission.

Young Moshe, named for Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato and buried on his yahrtzeit, survived the Holocaust as a child, first in France and then in Switzerland. Upon the war’s conclusion, he left behind war-torn Europe and settled with his parents and siblings in the fledgling chareidi community of Israel — a country riven by conflict without and within. He learned new languages and a new culture, finding mentors and rebbeim among the gedolim of the era, including the Chazon Ish, Rav Elazar Menachem Shach, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, and the mashgiach Rav Gedalia Eiseman, among others.

With time, he found his calling as a pioneer in both the kiruv sphere and the world of chareidi journalism, as an acclaimed master of the written and spoken word who conveyed ancient truths in a current medium.

Rabbi Grylak was one of the earliest lecturers of the Arachim kiruv organization; he could connect with even the most skeptical of secular Jews, and welcomed any question without fear or cynicism. His Shabbos table accommodated any number of guests, many of whom went on to embrace full mitzvah observance. When his family was still young, they moved to São Paulo, Brazil, as emissaries of the Jewish Agency to draw Jews closer to their heritage. The new language and new setting could not deter him from conveying his message.