Chabad shaliach Rabbi Levi Shemtov straddles a bipartisan tightrope in a polarized capital

Photos: Eli Greengart | With reporting by Yossi Elituv & Shimon Breitkopf

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.

After about a quarter of the room had finished their introductions, a middle-aged woman stood up and explained that she too had come to Washington to lobby her congressional representative on behalf of AIPAC and Israel. But her personal story was different. She explained that she had made the trip to honor the memory of her son, a US soldier who was killed in combat in Iraq. In a halting voice, she described his heroism and his sweet smile, and the memories that would last a lifetime.

After she finished speaking, Rabbi Shemtov paused for a moment and thanked the woman for her heartfelt introduction. He then revealed that he too had lost a relative to wartime combat, his maternal grandfather, Eliezer Gershon Lazaroff, the father of his mother, Rebbetzin Batsheva Shemtov, who was killed while serving in the Russian military during World War II.

And then, a teaching moment on a subject in which Rabbi Shemtov, unfortunately, has become expert: “Does everyone know what a Gold-Star mom is?” he asked the Shabbos guests. A Gold-Star mom is one who has lost a son while serving in the US military. Their national headquarters in on the same block, and he had met many of them in his time representing Chabad in his nearly 30 years as the director of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad). These women are heroes, he said, their strength unimaginable. He then asked everyone in the room to stand up and salute the lost soldier’s courage and sacrifice.

“We need to remember that freedom is not free,” Rabbi Shemtov said after the applause from the guests had died down. “And so, we must remain mindful of those at the tip of the spear who do what they must, stateside and abroad, so we can do what we wish in freedom, especially as it relates to the practice of our faith.”

All in a day’s work for Rabbi Shemtov, who, besides representing the Chabad-Lubavitch movement’s interests in the capital, is also the rabbi who oversees the kashering of the White House kitchen facilities for Jewish events, presides over the lighting ceremony of the enormous National Chanukah Menorah on the White House Ellipse, and serves as the rabbi of a shul attended by members of Congress and staff at the White House, including two key members, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. He also possesses a contact list that is the envy of every lobbyist in the nation’s capital and often serves as a go-to liaison when sticky problems arise for Jews worldwide. Rabbi Shemtov is, in a sense, American Jewry’s man in Washington, and though there are others who have similar roles, none of them can say they are following in the footsteps of their father.