The Rebbe’s Man in Washington

At the end of February, days before the coronavirus pandemic would knock the world off its axis, Rabbi Levi Shemtov rose to speak before a packed house of Israel activists in Washington, D.C.

The upper floor of The Shul of the Nation’s Capital, as his Chabad center is called, was filled to capacity. Israel supporters from around the world had converged on Washington for the annual AIPAC policy conference, and about 180 of them joined Rabbi Shemtov for Shabbos dinner. College students passed around plates of vegetables and chicken in one corner, while entire families pulled apart challos in another. Regulars to the shul, the D.C. natives, as well as those who visit the shul on business trips, were interspersed among the crowd.

The din of conversation in the room was so loud that it was difficult to hear one’s tablemates, but that only added to the excitement of the moment. How often do so many Jews, united in one purpose, have the opportunity to spend Shabbos together in the nation’s capital?

Amid the buzz, Rabbi Shemtov stood up and, with apologies for the time it might take, asked everyone in the room to introduce themselves. What at first seemed like a burdensome chore was in the end revelatory. In that one room, which also serves as the congregational space on weekdays and Shabbos, there were Jews from every corner of the world: Venezuela, Australia, Austria, Canada, and England. All had traveled to Washington for AIPAC, and Rabbi Shemtov, like a conductor directing his orchestra, embellished their introductions with follow-up questions and insightful comments.