-Meet Rebbetzin Rachel Levi-


Rachel Levi, born in Salonika, Greece, and daughter of Holocaust survivors, lost more than 20 members of her family in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Poland. Her mother, Lucía, spent many years in Auschwitz as girl, being forced to carry the corpses from the gas chambers to the ovens. Before she could throw them into the fires, however, she had to extract all the gold teeth from their mouths. Lucía never fully recuperated from the excruciating torture and suffering she endured in the camps, and died of cardiac arrest in Atlanta in 1992.

"Her mother spent many years in Auschwitz as a girl, being forced to carry the corpses from the gas chambers to the ovens. "

Rachel’s father, Eliezer Soto, was tortured and starved almost to death in the same camp. On many occasions, the Nazis experimented on him by forcing him to stand at attention outside in the freezing temperature indefinitely, with nothing on but paper underwear, to find out how long it would take for the human body to freeze.

Eliezer now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where he works as a barber, a trade he acquired during a daring attempt at survival, when he told a Nazi official this was his profession. The official was pleased with the haircut given him that he gave him a bowl of soup instead of killing him, launching Eliezer as his personal barber until he was transferred to another post. Eliezer is a member of the Orthodox Sephardic synagogue, Orve Shalom, where Rachel was raised as a child. Her brother David is a mechanical engineer, and her sister Victoria is a teacher at the Atlanta Hebrew Academy.

"As a child of Holocaust survivors, she has special sensitivity to women’s issues...how to run a Jewish home...how to raise children... "

Rachel suffered very much growing up, however, today she is a pioneer in her own fields, working with her husband. She is a well-recognized international women’s teacher, dealing with biblical subjects that relate strictly to a woman’s place in the home and in the congregation. As a child of Holocaust survivors, she has special sensitivity to women’s issues, especially crucial to children of troubled homes, how to run a Jewish home, the woman’s place in the synagogue, how to raise children, the woman's respect for her husband and her rabbi, and how to celebrate the festivals of the Lord at home and at the synagogue.

A pioneer in Davidic dance worship, Rachel has taught Messianic congregations around the world, helping them organize their own teams. She has guided in the establishment of Hebraic dance groups in Tampa, Florida; El Paso, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Miami, Florida; and overseas in Central America; San Jose, Costa Rica; London, England; Paris and Nice, France; Monterrey and Guadalajara, Mexico; Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; and others. She is also in charge of the bar and bat mitzvah training for the young children, including the early Hebrew rudiments.

Both Rabbi Haim and Rachel are multi-lingual, speaking Ladino (Judeo-Español), Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and some French.

Rabbi Levi, Rachel, and the Future
With families in Israel, Rabbi and Rachel have a very unique message to the Church and teaching institutions who now recognize that the world has entered the final closing prophetic hours. He and Rachel have now totally dedicated their time to the ministry of the International Federation of Messianic Jews, teaching yeshiva, and instructing rabbis and their synagogues wherever they are needed.