Leadership
Our Rabbi
Rabbi Anna Boswell-Levy has been our Spiritual Leader and Religious School Director since July 2008. She graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2006, and has served congregations in Ambridge, PA, as well as Blue Bell, PA, Punta Gorda, FL, and Flemington, NJ while in rabbinical school. She also served as rabbinic intern at the Abramson Center for Jewish Life in Horsham, PA and has worked in a variety of capacities for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. She has been a board member of Rabbi for Human Rights – North America since 2005.
Rabbi Anna is a dynamic spiritual leader who has a passion for crafting meaningful and inclusive Jewish life cycle and holiday celebrations and rituals. She is a skillful and musically accomplished shlichat tzibur (service leader) who is experienced in a variety of prayer modalities. Her warmth and friendliness permeate everything she does as a rabbi, an educator, and as a leader.
From an article about Rabbi Anna joining TvS in the Jewish Exponent, Sept 2008
“I really want to make people feel comfortable — I wanted to be a rabbi, but I wanted to be me,” explained Boswell-Levy. “I’m down-to-earth, and so is the congregation … that is what makes it such a great fit.”
Boswell-Levy said that she sees her role as a rabbi to be a “community organizer,” and that it’s her job to tap into the individual talents of the congregants and help the synagogue grow in the coming years. She doesn’t want to be the only person on the bimah; rather, at Tzedek v’Shalom, congregants share in the pulpit responsibilities, such as offering the d’var Torah or initiating deep discussions on issues and causes.
“They don’t want me to be the only voice,” explained the rabbi, and that participatory environment works for her, in that she enjoys knowing what others are thinking about and interested in. “That’s very much what this congregation is about.”
For the full text of the article, click here
