At 89, Eli Moscovitz has become somewhat of a local celebrity.

A full 76 years after turning 13, Moscovitz will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah Saturday at Chabad-Lubavitch of the Town in Montreal, as his wife Norma and three generations of descendents look on, including two sons, a daughter, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His story has appeared in the local newspaper, on the radio, and people in the community are telling him how impressed they are.

“I just felt that it was something that I never did, but I should do,” says Moscovitz. “I had my children’s Bar Mitzvahs but I never had the opportunity to do it.”

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Moscovitz was raised far from Judaism, and says his mother called herself an atheist. He learned about Yom Kippur from people in his neighborhood and figured out on which day to fast. He was always searching for more of a connection to Judaism, even if he didn’t know how to express it. He attended a large, local synagogue for three decades, but felt like something was always missing.

Apparently, his younger son David had felt the same way, though the two of them had never discussed it at the time. It was through his son that he found the Chabad House and its director, Rabbi Moshe Krasnanski.

“Three years ago I picked myself up and went to Chabad,” says David Moscovitz, adding that he stayed at the same synagogue he grew up in for 28 years out of respect for his parents.

He started with Yom Kippur morning services and then brought his wife back for Neilah, the concluding service. They were both moved by the experience.

“It’s been the best thing I ever did. I study, I learn, I go to synagogue every Sabbath. It really changed me 150 percent,” explains the younger Moscovitz, a 54-year-old professor and coordinator of the business administration program at Vanier College in Montreal. “My father was influenced by my change. He had this inner desire to change, too. But he never spoke about it.”

Moscovitz invited his parents for a Friday night dinner with Krasnanski and his family to show them what he had been experiencing.

Eli Moscovitz immediately fell in love with the warmth and enthusiasm and wanted to continue learning more.

“I felt right at home,” he says. “That’s what started it all.”

When the rabbi learned he never had a Bar Mitzvah, Krasnanski asked Moscovitz if he wanted one.

“I asked him, and he said, ‘Maybe, if I make it to see 89,’ ” the rabbi recalls, adding that Moscovitz wasn’t feeling well at the time.

Despite his health, Moscovitz started learning with the rabbi, studying Torah and the prayers, and he began to feel better. His energy level increased as he enthusiastically prepared for his pending Bar Mitzvah.

“It’s a big journey,” attests Krasnanski.

During his Bar Mitzvah service on Saturday, Moscovitz will lead the congregation in four prayers, he’ll take the Torah out from its cabinet, and give a speech. Rather than master Hebrew from scratch, Moscovitz learned the liturgy phonetically at first.

The rabbi has presided over one other adult Bar Mitzvah, for a 70-year-old man, but he says it’s not a common thing.

“It’s given him extra years on his life,” Moscovitz’s son said of the project. “To learn how to put on a [prayer shawl] and kiss [its fringes], it’s affected all of us. At 89 years of age, to watch my father learn about religion is amazing.”

Moscovitz doesn’t necessarily feel like he’s an inspiration to others. He’s just thankful that he finally took advantage of the chance to connect more deeply with his Judaism.

“I think Rabbi Moshe is part of my family,” he relates. “He makes you feel right at home. They put themselves out there to make you feel welcome.”

He’s ready for the big event, and plans to continue learning afterward as long as he can.

“I feel good, I’m not nervous at all,” he says, adding that the excitement comes from seeing his whole family in the crowd. “They’re all going to be there. They’re going to fill the whole synagogue up.

“I feel wonderful about it,” he adds. “How lucky I am to reach the age I am and to see all this.”