My Grandpa, Bernie Szabo, would always spend time talking with Rabbi Levi Ben Levy when he would pop in from Linden, North Carolina, just 18 miles from our synagogue in Fayetteville…Beth Israel. My brother Steven and I would linger nearby, studying the only black Jew we had ever met, listening in on the conversation. Grandpa was a Holocaust survivor and one of the best storytellers I’ve ever encountered. It was common for him to regale a visitor with stories of his life. Rabbi Ben Levy was always attentive and smiled around him.
We watched him daven, listened to the difference in his unique pronunciation of the Hebrew words, and greeted him with deference, largely because of the honor paid to him by Grandpa Bernie. He always gave us a kind “Shabbat Shalom” and strong handshake when we would see him.
Rabbi Levi Ben Levy would pop into town from time to time, I suppose when he was visiting Linden, his birthplace, from his home in New York, and then later in life he would appear more often, after his retirement to North Carolina. His beard was close cropped, manicured with precision, clean under the neck and he was always impeccably suited. He was prestigious.
Occasionally, he would be joined by his family members. His son, now a Rabbi, Schlomo Ben Levy, would often join him in our small chapel for Shabbos services on Saturday mornings. There weren’t more than 15 people gathered in the shul.
I always imagined that Rabbi Levy led a small congregation of black Jews, convening in a tiny room of a Brooklyn apartment. It’s been over 10 years since he passed away, and I was pleased to read a NY Times article that Steven stumbled on today. I was clearly small-minded in my thinking about his contributions to Judaism.
One NY Times article on Obama’s brother-in-law cites Rabbi Ben Levy as his spiritual source and Rabbi Ben Levy was the Rabbi credited with ordaining Funnye, “As his interest in Judaism deepened, Funnye was increasingly drawn to the more conventional teachings of a black, Brooklyn-based rabbi named Levi Ben Levy, the spiritual leader of the Hebrew Israelite movement. “He taught me that real Judaism isn’t mixed in with Christianity,” Funnye says.”
The Times also gave him a lovely Obit that we would all hope to deserve at the end of our lives. During his life, our North Carolina black Rabbi, Rabbi Ben Levy, attended Ethiopian Hebrew Rabbinical College, founded Beth Shalom Ethiopian Congregation in New York, then Beth Elohim in Queens, and was the Chief Rabbi of the Israelite Board of Rabbis. He also guided his two sons into the religious world, to his credit.
So often, the stories of our neighbors and associates are hidden because our casual interactions cause us to miss these brilliant accomplishments. I'm pleased, just in time for Shabbos, to learn the deeper story of our friend Rabbi Levi Ben Levy.
