 Meet
Our Rabbi & Rebbetzin
We are honored to
introduce you to our wonderful rabbi and rebbetzin, Dr. Haim
Levi and Rachel Levi. Their fascinating life
stories follow. Don't miss it!
Rabbi Dr. Haim Levi
Born of Sephardic parents in Medellin,
Colombia, he is a descendant of the Portuguese and Spanish
Jews who fled the Iberian Peninsula during the Spanish
Inquisition. His mother, Doña María Cano López de Mesa,
Marqueza de Fazio Linze, was born August 19, 1910, and died
at the Daughters of Sarah Orthodox Jewish Home in Albany,
New York in October 1988. His father was born November 11,
1887, and died at the hands of the Catholic Church for
refusing to be baptized in Medellin, March 1957.
His father died at the hands of the Catholic Church for
refusing to be baptized...
He has two brothers, Leon and Martin, also an engineer, and
two sisters, Edna and Niny, as well as many nieces and
nephews. His daughter, Diana Weiner, an attorney and
arbitrator in Sarasota, Florida, is married to attorney
Nevin Weiner, and both work in their law firm in that city.
Rabbi Levi immigrated to the USA, graduated in biblical
theology, then studied mechanical engineering. Between the
years of 1953 and 1957, he worked on the extrusion of
uranium bars for the first nuclear reactor on the submarine
"Nautilus." He was a member of the American Society of
Metallurgical Engineers, the American Metallurgy Society,
and the American Society of Steel Mill Engineers. He was
president of Acevedo, Inc., consultant and assistant
engineer for the United Nations technical assistant
programs, working on steel mills for Singapore, Malaysia. He
was professor of biblical studies in a number of
universities in the United States; Director of the “Wake Up
Israel” broadcast from Tampa, Florida. In New York he
studied under the guidance of his Orthodox rabbi, receiving
his sh’micha ordination in Jerusalem in 1974.
As a descendant of the Levitical priesthood, he uses the
Hebrew name every Jewish person receives as a child. He met
Messiah Yeshua in 1974, after his return from Israel
following the Yom Kippur War in 1973. In 1964 he taught
Hebrew and nutrition at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in
Saint Petersburg. At present he and his wife Rachel are the
Hebrew teachers for IFMJ-associated synagogues. He holds a
Master's degree in biblical studies and a doctorate in
Hebrew and biblical studies from Eitz Chayim Yeshiva.
He studied under the guidance of his Orthodox rabbi,
receiving his Sh’micha ordination in Jerusalem in 1974.
In 1978 Rabbi Levi established one of the first Messianic
synagogues in the world, Beth Israel Messianic Congregation
in Odessa (Tampa) , Florida. During this time, he joined the
Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) and in 1984, he
was elected to its executive committee.
In 1988, at a meeting held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he
was elected to the Board of the International Messianic
Jewish Alliance, whose home office was in Great Britain. He
assisted in the establishment of the International Alliance
of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues in the USA,
participating also in the formation of the Messianic Yeshiva
as well as establishing the first ordinations of Messianic
rabbis, during the middle 1980s, and was elected Regional
Director for the southeast area in the United States and for
Latin America. In 1990, he was elected Vice President of the
Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, and two years later,
was voted as the first Sephardic President of the MJAA, from
1992 to 1994.
During a La Higuera (Fig Tree) International Conference in
San José, Costa Rica in 1994, the Lord revealed to Rabbi
Levi that the time to begin the Sephardic revival was at
hand, when he showed him the prophecy of Obadiah 1:20
regarding the captivity of Jerusalem which was in Sepharad
(Spain), inhabiting the cities of the Negev. It was then
that he founded the International Federation of Messianic
Jews (IFMJ) with Messianic congregations and synagogues in
Argentina, Colombia, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Spain,
USA, and Venezuela. In addition, there are two other
national affiliate federations in Argentina and in Columbia.
After many years as head rabbi of Beth Israel in Odessa
(Tampa), Florida, Rabbi Levi appointed Rabbi Dennis Bacon to
succeed him, and remains as the founding rabbi and director
of this ministry. Later however, Rabbi Bacon asked to be
released from his duties at Beth Israel in order to start
another synagogue in Bradenton, Florida. Rabbi Levi again
takes the position of head rabbi with the help of Rabbi Tom
Phipps.
Rabbi Levi always works to establish friendship and unity as
well as an understanding between Messianic Jews and the
Church everywhere in the world. He has also established 17
Messianic synagogues in the state of Florida. |
