Rabbi Levi D. Lauer

Judaism and Social Justice

Rabbi Levi D. Lauer is the Founder and Executive Director of ATZUM (Avodot TZdaka U’Mishpat) Justice Works. His professional background includes Hillel Director at the University of Missouri; 18 years as Executive Director of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies; Dean of the Brandeis-Bardin Camp Institute; and Director of Rabbinic Enrichment at the Shalom Hartman Institute. Rabbi Lauer is a pioneer educator and social activist bringing contemporary social concerns to synthesis with traditional Jewish practice and study. His commitment to making social justice a priority of Jewish devotion led him to found ATZUM-Justice Works in 2002 to address glaring social injustice and bring assistance to Israelis disadvantaged by inadequate access to public and private protection. Under his leadership, ATZUM developed and implemented the following projects: the Roberta Project for Survivors of Terror to provide educational and other practical assistance to terror survivors/victims and their families; the Righteous among the Nations Project to assist the rescuers of Jewish lives during the Shoah who made their home in Israel; Project Abrah, an innovative oral history film project documenting testimonies of Ethiopian “Prisoners of Zion” as recorded by Israeli high schoolers; Beit Midrash TAKUM marrying Jewish learning with activist engagement; the Project for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (ATZRAS) which supports single mother asylum seeker families in Israel; and The Task Force on Human Trafficking and Prostitution (TFHT) which recently made substantial progress combating sex slavery in Israel by securing Knesset passage of Nordic Law legislation criminalizing the purchase of sexual services and rehabilitating the prostituted person.

Rabbi Lauer is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and has lived in Israel since 1976 with his wife, Chaya (Z"L); two daughters, Amira and Anya; and two grandchildren. He served 11 years in a reserve, combat, artillery unit of the IDF.