RabbiShlomoLevin

Rabbi Shlomo Levin MBE

Weekly five-minute, thought-provoking episodes presented in an engaging style
about the issues and values that affect our daily lives. Neither political or religious,
the series are for those of whatever faith or none.
Shlomo Levin was the Senior Rabbi of the South Hampstead Synagogue in London
for 40 years, growing it from a small community on the brink of closure into one of
the largest and most vibrant synagogues in the United Kingdom.
He draws on his communal experience and the University of Life to explore the
issues that impact on the social fabric of society and that resonate with our l

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16 episodes
weekly
Avg 4 min
English

Episodes 16

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S1 · E16
Yesterday · 5 min
The Singing Bus
Growing up in apartheid South Africa, Rabbi Shlomo Levinwatched two buses climb the same hill on the same foggy morning - one new and half empty, the faces at its windows silent; the other overcrowded and falling apart, and alive with ninety voices singing in harmony. The question it raised has stayed with him for a lifetime: why wasn't it the other way around? A reflection on wealth, hardship, and where happiness actually comes from. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbishlomolevin
S1 · E15
October 4 · 4 min
I'm in a Relationship with my Computer
It calls him by name, knows all about him, and even wisheshim a good Sabbath in Hebrew. Rabbi Shlomo Levin traces a decades-long relationship with his computer - from floppy disks to AI - and asks what remains missing. However well a machine simulates warmth, he argues, it cannot supply the thing we recognise instantly in another person and cannot quite define. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbishlomolevin
S1 · E14
September 27 · 5 min
The Banana
A banana duct-taped to a gallery wall sold for $120,000 - until a man walked up and ate it, then calmly explained that he was an artist and this was a performance piece. Rabbi Shlomo Levin uses the story, alongside Aaron's account of the golden calf, to examine how quickly we reframe our own actions after the fact, and what that habit costs us. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevinX: https://x.com/RabbiSLevinFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevinTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbishlomolevin
S1 · E13
September 20 · 4 min
The Hidden House
Why are we drawn to what we can't quite see? Rabbi ShlomoLevin reflects on a house he passes on his walks - almost entirely hidden behind trees, and far more intriguing than the grand homes standing fully exposed beside it. A meditation on dignity, on what we choose to hold back, and on why what is most precious about a person can never really be displayed. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbishlomolevin
S1 · E13
September 13 · 4 min
A Walk in the Park
On a beautiful day in one of London's best parks, almosteveryone was staring at their phone instead of the view. Rabbi Shlomo Levin shares what happened when he spotted one man reading a book on a bench - a congregant observing the Jewish Sabbath's break from technology - and asks whether the rest of us need a Sabbath to reclaim the same thing. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbishlomolevin
S1 · E11
September 6 · 4 min
Four Children
What happens when you ask children to rewrite the TenCommandments in their own words? Rabbi Shlomo Levin shares the hilarious and surprisingly profound answers from a Sunday school exercise - and connects them to Passover's Four Children, and what they teach us about parenting the child in front of you, not the one you hoped for. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbishlomolevin
S1 · E11
August 30 · 5 min
The Election
Does it take an immigrant to see what's great about your owncountry? Rabbi Shlomo Levin looks back on a 1997 fundraising dinner where aPrime Minister mid-election campaign praised Britain's protection of minorities— and the realisation that hit him later that night, drawn from his ownchildhood in apartheid South Africa. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbishlomolevin
S1 · E9
August 23 · 5 min
Some People Hate Me
Rabbi Shlomo Levin reflects on a hard truth: some peoplehate him without ever knowing him, simply because he is Jewish. He traces the long history of antisemitism through to Britain today, and its cost to society - before ending with a message of hope: hate is learned, and it can be unlearned. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbishlomolevin
S1 · E8
August 16 · 5 min
Indian Railway Station
What if the secret to starting your day well has nothing todo with religion at all? Rabbi Shlomo Levin shares a story about a crowdedIndian railway station at dawn — and what it revealed about a habit the Westhas largely lost: taking a few quiet moments each morning to gain perspectivebefore the day takes over. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbishlomolevin
S1 · E7
August 9 · 4 min
My Barber
Can a Jew and a Muslim build a real relationship without ever discussing theology? Rabbi Shlomo Levin talks about his barber of over 20 years — a devout Muslim who prays five times a day and fasts through Ramadan — and what an easy, honest relationship across religious lines can teach us about healthy multiculturalism. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbishlomolevin
#5
August 2 · 4 min
Man Up
Is the perfect man tough and dominant, or gentle and self-controlled? Rabbi Shlomo Levin looks at a 59-country study linking "manosphere" pressure to unhappiness, two classic Jewish jokes about the stereotypically unassertiveman, and what the Talmud says true strength actually looks like. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rabbishlomolevin
#5
July 26 · 6 min
It's not fair
A heart attack. An intensive care ward. And a widow's cry that never really faded. Rabbi Shlomo Levin reflects on the night that changed his life 25years ago, and what it means to live in a universe that doesn't run on fairness — not with despair, but by asking what to do next. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin #RabbiShlomoLevin, #Resilience,#Faith, #Grief, #Mortality, #JewishWisdom,
#4
July 19 · 4 min
Patrick
Patrick was a security guard, an ex-Marine, a gentle giant — and a man who once told Rabbi Shlomo Levin he didn't know who he was. In Episode 4, that quiet confession becomes a meditation on rootedness: why knowing where we come from is the rock our stability rests on, and what a culture risks losing when it forgets its roots. New episodes every week, usuallyunder 4 minutes. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/rabbishlomolevin LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rabbishlomolevin
#3
July 12 · 5 min
The Far Side of the Moon
What happens when every support system disappears at once? Rabbi Shlomo Levin connects the Artemis II astronauts' 40 minutes of silence behind the Moon, a mentor's method of leaving troubled teenagers alone in a forest overnight, and the biblical story of Jacob stripped of everything he relied on — and finds the same truth in all three: an inner scaffolding that remains even when the outer one falls away. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin
#2
July 5 · 5 min
The Mansion
A visit to a magnificent house turns into a lesson about the one thing that holds every relationship together: trust. Rabbi Shlomo Levin reflects on a private conversation with a man convinced his wife was having an affair, and what it reveals about betrayal, self-worth, and why even love can't survive without trust. Under 4 minutes, every week. Substack: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin
#1
July 5 · 3 min
New Beginnings Are Harder
Endings are hard. New beginnings are sometimes even harder. After 40 years as a senior rabbi and the recent loss of his son, Rabbi Shlomo Levin knows both kinds of ending. In this weekly series, he shares brief, honest reflections — under 4 minutes each — on the values that make life better. Not religious. Not political. Just a fresh perspective for anyone, whatever they believe. New episodes weekly. Full archive at: https://rabbishlomolevin.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rabbishlomolevin X: https://x.com/RabbiSLevin

Showing 1–16 of 16 episodes