How I w ent From Catholi C Boy to Cha B ad Ra BB i

in Florida, and I see this "chance" encounter as the turning point in my story of how I went from a Catholic Boy to a Chabad Rabbi.

When I think about it, it's incredible how two teenagers new path in life. That Starbucks chat set me on a course that would lead me to discover and embrace my Jewish heritage. That night, we talked about the concept of the soul, the hundreds of men draped in what looked like striped sheets. Things got stranger when a man asked me to roll up my sleeve, and I had a black leather strap tied around my arm. But, suddenly, when I heard the Hebrew words "Baruch Ata.." I had flashbacks to when I was a kid, and we said those exact words to celebrate my mother's culture of lighting the menorah. At that moment, I felt at home, realizing that those were my words and that Judaism belonged to me. collided at a Starbucks in New York City. One was from a traditional Chabad family in Brooklyn, just stopping in for a drink on his way back from an orthodontist appointment in the City, and the other was me, a former altar boy searching for a meaning of life, and the principles of Jewish law. I thought about the idea that Jewish lineage is through the mother. I followed my heart and my new friend to the Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights.

After wrapping tefillin and saying the shema, I took one small step after another. I enrolled in the Yeshiva and immersed myself in the study. That's when my journey to keeping kosher started. The kitchen at the school was kosher, and I had separate dishes at home for when I would visit.

Living in a kosher community, I enjoyed the neighborhood's friendly, genuine care. These moral values helped change me. The environment, the kosher diet, and the authenticity of my heritage somehow transformed me. At one point, I decided to become a Rabbi and learn how to give back.

After reconnecting with my parents and moving back home, it took a lot of work to retain the atmosphere of the Yeshiva, and I struggled with keeping kosher. Eventually, I moved back to Crown Heights and was fortunate to have my own space with a kosher kitchen.

Everything was new for me, and I felt strange standing among

The Kosher Symbol

I'm a Rabbi and teacher today, but I'll never forget that kosher black coffee and the people who helped me along the way.

ABOUT: Rabbi Matisyahu Devlin was raised as a Catholic and is now a Chabad Rabbi in Florida. He told his story on TorahCafe.com.

Since 1935, the OK Kosher symbol means the product is kosher. OK Kosher is the world’s leading kosher certification agency – recognized as the global benchmark for kosher standards and integrity. This outstanding reputation has been achieved through continual improvement and innovation, as well as through first-rate customer support. OK Kosher operates an international network of offices, so you can rely on their teams of experts to provide specialized kosher certification anywhere in the world. When it comes to keeping kosher, look for the trusted symbol of the OK. Read more at OK.org