Naomi Levy

Who is Naomi Levy?

Naomi Levy is an American rabbi, author and speaker.

Levy was born and raised in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn, New York. She attended Bialik School and Yeshiva of Flatbush.

She attended Cornell University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude. In 1984, she was in the first class of women to enter The Jewish Theological Seminary's rabbinical school. At the seminary, Rabbi Levy received honors as outstanding underclass student of Talmud and outstanding underclass rabbinical student. In 1989, Rabbi Levy became the first female Conservative rabbi to head a pulpit on the West Coast. She led Congregation Mishkon Tephilo in Venice, CA for seven years.

Levy's first book, To Begin Again, discusses recovery from suffering and tragedy, and relates her own loss when her father was murdered in an armed robbery when she was 15. Her 2002 book, Talking to God, discusses the transformative effect of prayer.

In 2004 Rabbi Levy founded Nashuva, a spiritual outreach service for Jews turned off to traditional Jewish service. Nashuva holds Shabbat services the first Friday of each month at a church in Brentwood, drawing capacity crowds of 300 people. Nashuva, which means "we will return" in Hebrew, also leads monthly social service and social action projects in the L.A. area. "The goal of prayer isn’t only personal peace," says the group's web site. "At Nashuva we believe that prayer leads us to action. It reminds us that we are here to heal this broken world. Nashuva is a service that leads to service."