Rabbi Menachem Mendel Deitsch, who served as a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in France and Israel, passed away on April 15, during Shabbat in Jerusalem, as the result of injuries sustained last October in an anti-Semitic attack in Ukraine. He was 64 years old.
Deitsch had been active in strengthening Jewish life in the former Soviet Union for many years, and was a central organizer of hospitality and programming at the burial site of Chabad’s founder, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, in Haditch, Ukraine.
The rabbi was attacked at the central train station in the city of Zhitomir after spending Rosh Hashanah in Haditch. He was discovered the next morning and was admitted to the intensive-care unit at a regional hospital, where he was diagnosed with multiple head injuries and brain trauma.
Deitsch underwent emergency surgery in Zhitomir while the victim’s family in Israel urgently worked with the Israeli government and emergency-services organizations in Jerusalem to arrange an airlift to Tel Hashomer hospital in Ramat Gan.
Later that month, four suspects were arrested for the brutal beating and robbery.
The rabbi had been in a coma since the time of the attack, and his condition began to deteriorate in recent weeks.
He is survived by his wife, Shterna Sara; and their children, Menouha Friedland (Aubervilliers, France); Rabbi Shnieur Zalman Deitsch (Minsk, Russia); Chana Appelbaum (Migdal HaEmek, Israel); R’ Yisroel Deitsch (Jerusalem); R’ Levi Yitzchok Deitsch (Jerusalem), Yehudis Fradkin (Rechovot, Israel); R’ Yosef Eliyahu Deitsch (Krayot, Israel); and Shlomo Yehuda, Shmuel, Yocheved and Dovber.
He is also survived by his brothers: Rabbi Chaim Sholom Deitsch; Rabbi Shneur Zalman Deitsch; and Rabbi Moshe Deitsch.
The funeral will take place on Sunday, leaving Shamgar funeral home in Jerusalem at 2:30 p.m.
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