Rabbi Moshe and Motty Steinmetz in a father-son conversation of merging hearts

Photos: Ariel Ohana, Ezra Trabelsi, Family archives

When Motty Steinmetz’s world suddenly became bigger and glitzier than anything he knew from his sheltered chassidish upbringing, he drew on the lessons his father, Rabbi Moshe Steinmetz, imparted within him since he was a young child tagging behind as Reb Moshe himself sang before the Rebbe. “It keeps me sane in a very big and very challenging world,” says Motty. A father-son conversation of merging hearts

A handwritten note is Scotch-taped to the door of the Steinmetz home in Bnei Brak’s Shikun Vizhnitz: “Dislocated Wrists and Shoulders Gemach.”

That means that if your kid gets tackled and dislocates his shoulder in the middle of Shabbos, you can save yourself a trip to the emergency room. In the most crowded chareidi enclave in the country, it’s actually a valuable and utilized service — and, of course, free of charge.

Something about the little note tells the bigger story. Inside we meet Rabbi Moshe Steinmetz, a talmid chacham, sofer stam, teacher of chassidus, and devoted chassid whose day revolves around the needs of others. And it’s not just about snapping joints back into place (a skill he and his wife, a health practitioner and phlebotomist, have learned in order to help others) — anyone who needs a place to stay in this Vizhnitz neighborhood will find a warm corner as well.

Reb Moshe welcomes us warmly, honoring us with a bottle of ice-cold seltzer for this sweltering day. For himself he prepares boiling Turkish “mud” coffee in a disposable plastic cup. The overstuffed bookshelves groan under the weight of the holy tomes, while on the table is the sefer Yom Tov of Rosh Hashanah 5666 — a serial delivered by the Rebbe Rashab of Lubavitch, begun on Rosh Hashanah 5666 (1905) and extending over the next two years, in which the Rebbe explains many concepts in the study of chassidus and hints to the revelations of the light of Redemption. (Reb Moshe is close with Chabad chassidic mashpia Rav Zalman Gopin, with whom he’s been learning for many years.)

Rabbi Steinmetz, one of the Vizhnitz enclave’s prominent figures, is an extremely learned, yet modest and humble man — in fact, he only agreed to be photographed from the back. Here, in the simply furnished living room with plastic Keter chairs around the table and ledges filled with candles lit in honor of the tzaddikim of previous generations, the lives of a father and son converge: one who has no interest in worldly matters if they aren’t a true benefit for the klal, and another who lights up the stages of the Jewish music world, singing at the most glitzy, high-end events.

And yet, Motty Steinmetz’s heart and soul are planted here, in the simple home in Bnei Brak’s Vizhnitz neighborhood, leaning in with love at his father’s table.