Rabbi Evan and Tova Levine (along with their children: Meir, Shira, Shaya, and Hodaya) have spent the last two and a half years in Hale Barns, a provincial town in South Manchester, UK, as the Directors of Adult Education and Assistant Rabbi and Rebbitzen at the Hale Shule. Before this they lived in Israel for ten years, studying, working, and raising a family. Rabbi Evan Levine was born and raised in a small suburb of Los Angeles, California, where he was an avid football player and coach. He studied in and was granted his Bachelors of Science in Economics from the University of La Verne, after which, Rabbi Evan went to work in finance for several years. Rabbi Evan left a career in finance and went to Israel where he spent nine and a half years learning in various yeshivot and kollelim culminating in smicha from the Mizrachi Musmachim program and Rabbi Zalman Nechmiah Goldberg zt”l. While in Kollel at the Gush, Rabbi Evan was managing Yeshivat Har Etzion’s night seder program and was giving regular classes to English speaking students in the Yeshiva. In January of 2021 Rabbi Evan assumed the role as Director of the Hale Adult Hebrew Education Trust, which provides quality in-depth Jewish education in the broader Hale and southern Manchester communities. In his free time Evan likes hiking, reading, sailing, a strong coffee, and good chummus. Tova Levine grew up in Providence, Rhode Island (the smallest state with the longest name). She studied at the Maimonides school, founded by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Judaic Studies and Human Development from Binghamton University. After university, Tova studied Torah at Nishmat, a leading Seminary for women in Jerusalem. While living in Israel, Tova earned her Masters in Social Work from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and worked in mental health as a social worker for five years. In January of 2021 Tova assumed the role as Co-Director of the Hale Adult Hebrew Education Trust, where she focuses on women’s Jewish education and children’s programming in the broader Hale community. In her free time, Tova loves exploring new places, hiking, learning, reading, swimming, collaging, and scrapbooking.
