Rabbi Leonard Levy

Rabbi Leonard Levy is on the faculty of the Institute of Traditional Judaism (מתיבתא למדעי היהדות), where he received yoreh yoreh semikhah (rabbinic ordination) from Rabbi David Weiss Halivni in 2009.

Rabbi Levy has been a member of the UTJ Board of Directors and Chair of the UTJ`s Publications Committee since 1986. He edited Cornerstone, vol. 1, Tomeikh KaHalakhah, vol. 2, and chaired the committee that wrote the UTJ`s Declaration of Principles.

Rabbi Levy earned his undergraduate degree in Biology from California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA) in 1979.  He was first ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (New York) in 1984, where he also earned his Ph.D. in Talmud and Rabbinics with a concentration in Medieval Jewish Law in 2002.

He taught Talmud and Jewish Law at JTS for over a decade and served on Conservative Judaism's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards from 2004- 2006, during which time he authored an opinion for that Committee entitled “Same-Sex Attraction and Halakhah” before resigning in December 2006.

Rabbi Levy has also taught courses at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (New York) and the Academy for Jewish Religion (New York).  Rabbi Levy also served for many years as a congregational rabbi, most recently at the Jewish Center of Forest Hills West in Middle Village, NY from 1998-2008.

Rabbi Levy’s main research interest is analyzing the assumptions and principles behind various approaches of deciding Halakhah (Jewish Law).  His dissertation focused the assumptions and principles behind the Jewish legal code of Rabbi Yitzhaq Alfasi (RIF) in the Eleventh Century.  His most recent publication is “The Decisive Shift: from Geonim to RIF,”Tiferet Leyisrael: Jubilee Volume in Honor of Israel Francus (JTS Press, 2010), which demonstrates the shift in assumptions between the Geonim and the Rishonim.

Rabbi Levy is the founder of www.torahwithoutborders.org, a website dedicated to matching people with study partners and mentors to seriously engage with Torah through a text or topic of their own choice at a time of their own choosing.  He currently lives in Forest Hills, NY, where he teaches shiurim and speaks in Orthodox congregations, mainly Queens Jewish Center and Havurat Yisrael.

Articles & Videos

• Dissertation
• Decisive shift article
• Website
• YouTube: One Thousand Years of Rif (from Morashah conference 2013)