The Daily Beast has named Venetian Naomi Levy as one of America’s Top 50 Rabbis for 2012! Rabbi Levy is the founder and spiritual leader of Nashuva and author of the national best seller “To Begin Again“. The Daily Beast attributes the existence of the Venice Drum Circle to Levy, but it appears most of her meetups are at the Brentwood Presbyterian Church.
From the Daily Beast:
One of the first female rabbis ordained at JTS, Levy charts her own definition of congregational rabbi. Her member-less L.A. community Nashuva engages disaffiliated young Jews; its drum circle at Venice beach draws thousands. Nashuva attendees dress casually but wear white for Shabbat: the service meets in a church and features an eight-person band. Their webcast of Yom Kippur services was viewed live by 20,000; something in this unorthodox formula seems to be working.