The New Reform Temple (NRT) has announced Rabbi David Levinsky, Ph.D. will become the congregation’s new rabbi.
He will begin his new role on July 1 upon the retirement of Rabbi Alan Londy, who has served the congregation in this role for 14 years and will become the Temple’s first rabbi emeritus.
“We are very excited to welcome Rabbi Levinsky as the next rabbi of The New Reform Temple,” NRT Board President Joyce Hess said. “He is an exemplary professional and a perfect fit for our congregation.”
Rabbi Levinsky will be relocating from Chicago, where he is currently an instructor at Loyola University, teaching a chavruta-style class of introduction to Judaism to undergraduate students. Most recently, he served as senior rabbi at Temple Har Shalom in Park City, Utah, for nine years. During that time, he helped the congregation grow from 300 to 400 members; developed an inclusive approach to Judaism that emphasized love of Judaism and love of the Jewish people over status as a Jew; and started an interfaith dialogue among the local Mormon, Muslim and Jewish communities.
Rabbi Levinsky also spent six years as associate rabbi at Chicago Sinai Congregation, where he helped edit the contemporary, gender-neutral edition of “The Union Prayer Book” that is currently in use at NRT.
Rabbi Levinsky received a BA in English with a focus on Jewish studies from Indiana University; a Masters of Hebrew Letters and rabbinical ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion; and a Ph.D. in religious studies from Stanford University. He has studied Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac and Koine Greek and is deeply interested in music, including guitar playing, songwriting and record collecting.
While studying for his doctorate and working on his dissertation, Rabbi Levinsky served small congregations in Castro Valley and Palo Alto, California, and worked at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco, where he created programming to teach non-Jews about Judaism.
“I am honored and delighted to become the rabbi of The New Reform Temple,” Rabbi Levinsky said. “I feel called to serve a small congregation, and this opportunity is my wish come true… Since I sat down in Jerusalem for my first day of rabbinic school, I have changed as a rabbi. Yet, the values and beliefs that drove my rabbinate then continue to drive my rabbinate now.”
“The relationships that I have forged over the past 15 years have helped me grow and have expanded my kindness, my openness, my deep love of God and my humility,” he continued. “I am very excited to join The New Reform Temple and the broader Kansas City Jewish community.”
Rabbi Levinsky is married to Kate Phillippo, a professor in the Schools of Social Work and Education at Loyola University in Chicago. Their son, Noam, is an undergraduate at the University of Chicago in Urban Studies.
