Levertovs’ Impact on Austin

By American-Statesman

Before there was an H-E-B Kosher Store, Rabbi Yosef Levertov would order frozen chicken and red meat to keep in a freezer at the Chabad House, a center for University of Texas students who wanted to have a spiritual home on campus.

When Levertov arrived in Austin in 1984, he said, his mission as the leader of the house was to offer students “a home that brings you home.”

Twenty-five years later, Levertov, 51, oversees the Kosher Store operations as rabbinical supervisor. He was instrumental in coordinating the first Menorah lighting outside of City Hall during Hanukkah at the end of 2009 . He still leads the Chabad House with the help of co-director Rabbi Zev Johnson.

Levertov, along with his wife, Rochel, are part of the relatively small Hasidic Jewish population in Austin. But they have played a major role in adding to the diversity of Austin’s Jewish community as it has grown over the past two decades, said Jay Rubin, chief executive officer of the Jewish Community Association of Austin.

Through their Sabbath and festival meals on campus or visits to fraternities and sororities, the Levertovs connect with more than 1,600 Jewish students each year.

Levertov also visits Jewish inmates in prison, and his wife started the school they run in North Austin, Bais Menachem Hebrew Academy .

The couple have done “an extraordinary amount of outreach to all parts of the Jewish community, including to Israelis and others from outside of the United States,” Rubin said. “They’ve played a big part in helping develop the growing, diverse and dynamic Jewish community that has developed in Austin over the past 25 years.”

The Levertovs were honored in October at a gala organized by women whose children attend the academy.

As an observant Hasidic Jew, Yosef Levertov said he believes that “everything in the Torah is true and nothing has changed.”

“It means that, as Jews, we will not tweak anything of the religion; we will work our way through the modern world,” blending our beliefs with the current age we live in, he said.

Levertov does not use elevators or cars on the Sabbath, from sundown Friday until Saturday evening, which is why he lives within walking distance of the Chabad center in Northwest Austin. He walks two miles from there to visit Jewish senior citizens through the center’s Smile on Seniors program.

Reaching out to all parts of the Jewish community is one of the central tenets of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Movement , the movement within Orthodox Judaism founded by 18th century mystics. Chabad emphasizes reaching out to nonpracticing Jews, so the centers and houses — there are 3,300 across the world and two in Austin — are more like outreach centers than synagogues.

Levertov grew up in Brooklyn, nestled in a community of Hasidic Jews in Crown Heights. He said he knew as a boy that he wanted to grow up to be a religious leader. With the permission of a religious mentor in New York, Levertov went to UT to lead the Chabad House.

“It’s a common misperception that those who are observant are critical, but Rabbi Levertov is not that way at all,” said Bradley Bain, 31 , who met Levertov when Bain was a UT student.

The Levertovs have eight children, but they always seem to find time to make others feel like family, said James Zidell, 40.

The rabbi and his wife “provide stability and refuge to college students who need that landing base in order to keep everything else in perspective,” he said.

Zidell met Levertov in 1988, when he was a UT student, and he still talks to the rabbi frequently by phone from his home in Florida.

Levertov said he hopes more people will come to understand their Jewish heritage through his discussions with local Jews who want to deepen their faith.

Like all Jews, he said, “I am here in this world to fulfill God’s will.”