When I called Beatie for an interview, I caught her in the middle of running.
Five and half years ago, Beatie (Bracha) Deutsch decided that she would take up running to help her get in shape. At the time she had four kids, born within six years of each other, and she wanted to make some “me time” for herself. She set as her goal to run a full marathon (26.2 miles) and, four months later, she came in sixth in the Tel Aviv Marathon for women at a time of 3 hours, 27 minutes.
This was the beginning of a career in sports for the charedi, then resident of Har Nof.
Today at 31, she lives in Moshav Neve Michael near Beit Shemesh. She is a full-time runner, part of the Israel National Championship team and she has recently been asked to be the spokeswoman for the Adidas’s Israeli campaign with their motto “Impossible is Nothing.”
Deutsch made aliyah from Passaic, N.J., when she married her Israeli husband, Michael, at 19. She worked in kiruv, spending two years with her husband at the University of Tucson.
Brimming with positivity, Deutsch sees her being a public figure in the world of sports as a way to do kiruv on whole new level. And with each marathon she runs, she finds new insights to apply to her unique position.
“Marathons are a metaphor for life,” she says. Most of us can relate to that feeling.
“Marathons help us to push ourselves, to step out of our comfort zone and become our best self.” She emphasizes this in the talks she gives on emunah. “Because when you’re running, it’s just you and Hashem. You’re connected to Infinity.”
Deutsch says that today she’s so much more present as a wife and a mother and is an advocate for women taking time for themselves for their physical and mental health. With five kids ages 11 and under, she’s very aware of the necessity.
“I’m a big advocate for moving your body for mental health,” she says, “And running produces big endorphins. I can’t believe how it changed me as a mother and a wife.”
In 2017, Deutsch ran a marathon while she was seven months pregnant and she claims the subsequent pregnancy, labor and birth were here easiest. Her father is an ObGyn and he told her that since she had been running for a while it was safe to do so. She ran up until her last day of pregnancy.
She also seeks spiritual guidance from the noted kiruv personality Rabbi Leib Kelemen who supports and encourages her. “This is my tafkid,” she says. “Everyone has their unique strengths and talents that they need to discover and use in serving Hashem and benefiting the Jewish people.” She wonders what would have happened had she never discovered this unique gift.
Today, Deutsch runs 90-100 miles a week, and along with training for her marathons, she speaks at schools, inspiring young women to dream big and believe in themselves and in the gifts Hashem has given them to make a difference.
She missed qualifying for the Olympics by a minute and half. Makes you think about the significance of every minute in your life. Anyway, she might not have been able to participate as the woman’s track event was scheduled to take place on Shabbat.
This is usually not a problem for Deutsch. In Israel, marathons take place on Friday mornings, and worldwide they take place on Sundays, so there’s no problem with Shabbat. As a religious Jew, she wears more clothes than the average runner, but that doesn’t seem to slow her down; she’s used to it, she says.
Deutsch talks about when she ran the 2019 Israeli Championship Race. She was running along, singing to Hashem when she saw one of her competitors at the halfway point already on her way back. (It was a race where you go to one end and then back to the starting point.)
Her coach had warned her about putting on extra speed so early in the race and she figured she had already lost this race, but then she thought, “I am connected to Infinity, anything is possible.” So she started running as fast as she could, with two voices competing in her head, one her coach and one her own saying, “Hashem is with me.”
At some point, near the end of the race, she caught up with the other woman, who turned to her and said, “I’m finished, I have no strength left, the race is yours.” Deutsch won. Not only did she win, but she trimmed off six minutes from her previous time. That’s a huge amount in racing where every second makes a difference. “There is no physiological explanation for this,” another coach told her. In other words, it was a miracle. And a kiddush Hashem.
Deutsch says she sees the Adidas billboards while driving around. There aren’t many elite female athletes and being a religious woman made her even more appealing. She’s had overwhelming positive feedback. “I surround myself with people who support me and I never want to share a negative message.” Her family are among her biggest fans.
Dedicated runner as she is, Deutsch makes sure to spend time with her family. “We have our own passions, but we need to be with our kids.” Sometimes she can do both like when one of her daughters expressed an interest in running. Now they sometimes run together.
Deutsch is excited about her journey and the new adventure of being a nationwide spokesperson. And she strives hard to be worthy of that accolade.
“When the voices swirling in my head have threatened to tell me I can’t possibly run 42.2km at a 3:32/km pace I have countered them with affirmations. When the doubt bubbles up inside, I hold onto my faith and remind myself that I’ve done the hard work and Hashem is the true source of my strength.
“So often, the narrative we play in our head is one of hesitation, worry and fear. When things get difficult we fall prey to the ‘impossible game’ and let those voices of despair take over. It’s easy to give up when things feel hard…when it all seems impossible and you have absolutely no idea whether you succeed.
“But if there’s anything I’ve learned from running, it is to stand strong and stay positive, to drown out the voices of self-defeat and hold on to faith. And that nothing is ever impossible. Or rather that Impossible is Nothing and Hashem is with me every step of the way.”
And that’s true whether you’re running or standing still. Whatever you aspire to, Beatie Deutsch – runner, mother, wife, role model – is proof that with Hashem as your coach, you’re already a winner.