Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson

Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson is Director of Education at T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. In 2013, he received rabbinic ordination from Hebrew College, where he was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Before that, he taught fifth grade for three years at the Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan. Lev holds an AB in geology from Brown University. He lives with his wife, Eliana, and their son, Barzilai, in Brooklyn, NY.

StoryPeople

Faith and Practice

Choices and Change: How I Became a Social Justice Rabbi

By Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson

I didn’t set out to become a social justice rabbi. I didn’t grow up in an activist family or do a lot of community service in high school, and my Judaism is not all about tikkun olam.

“I’m looking for an internship in lobbying,” I said to my high school guidance counselor toward the end of junior year.

“Ok. Lobbying for whom?”

“I don’t care — could be the NRA, could be Planned Parenthood. I just want to learn how this lobbying thing works.”