Temple Beth IsraelTemple Beth Israel

....................................................................................................................................

Rabbi Dr John S Levi, Rabbi Emeritus

Rabbi Levi was the first Australian to be ordained as a rabbi and to return to work in the land of his birth. He was named Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth Israel in 1997 following 37 years of distinguished leadership in our congregation.

Rabbi Levi was elected Deputy President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry in 2005 and is a Patron of the Council of Christians and Jews (Australia), an organization he helped to found in 1985. He was a Vice President of the governing body of the World Union for Progressive Judaism from 1974-1998. Rabbi Levi was one of the founders of our The King David School and he has several publications including Australian Genesis (1974), Rabbi Jacob Danglow (1995), A Passover Haggadah (2002), These Are the Names (2006) and, most recently, My Dear Friends: the biography of Rabbi Dr Herman Sanger, the first Senior Rabbi of Temple Beth Israel.

He is a Member of the Order of Australia. Monash University awarded Rabbi Levi the degree of Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) for his contribution to the community and to Australian Jewish history in 2006. In 2008 Rabbi Levi accepted an appointment as adjunct professor to the Australian Catholic University’s Asia-Pacific Centre for Inter-religious Dialogue, based in Melbourne.