Camp Kesher is honored and delighted to have Rabbi Naomi Levy as this year’s scholar-in-residence.  In preparation for the Reform movement’s new prayer book, we are excited to be focusing on the prayer experience, what prayer means, and how we access prayer through mind, heart, and body.  For her program, “Deepening the Prayer Experience,” Rabbi Levy will lead us on a journey into the world of prayer. We will explore timeless questions: Does prayer work?  Is G-d listening? We will study Biblical and Talmudic texts about ways to reach G-d. We will learn about the ancient art of Jewish meditation.  And we will try our hand at prayer writing, as well.

Rabbi Naomi Levy attended Cornell University and The Jewish Theological Seminary’s rabbinical school, where she was in the first class of women to be admitted and was honored as outstanding underclass student of Talmud and outstanding underclass rabbinical student.  Rabbi Levy became the first female Conservative rabbi to head a pulpit on the West Coast.  She led Congregation Mishkon Tephilo for seven years and then left her pulpit to begin work on her book, To Begin Again, which became a national bestseller.  Rabbi Levy’s new book, Talking to God, teaches us how prayer can transform all our days. The book has received praise from Jews and Christians, clergy and lay people alike.  Rabbi Levy has appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” and on “Oprah,” and has been featured in Parade, Redbook, Self, and Los Angeles magazines.  She serves on the faculties of the Wexner Heritage Foundation and the Academy of Jewish Religion, and is a popular guest lecturer on topics of faith, strength, renewal, spirituality, healing and prayer.  Rabbi Levy lives in Venice, California with her husband, Robert Eshman, who is editor-inchief of the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, and their children, Adin and Noa.

Talking to God : Personal Prayers for Times of Joy, Sadness, Struggle, and Celebration

To Begin Again : The Journey Toward Comfort, Strength, and Faith in Difficult Times

Past Scholars:

Rabbi Lewis M. Barth

Endorsed by the Pacific Northwest Council of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)