About

Since 1967 Judy Lev’s pilgrim soul has moved her to write sing and dance in Jerusalem Tel Aviv and Haifa. Plus moshav Beit Zayit.

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Delayed mourning for baby brother Joey who died in 1951 erupted in 1982 and forced Lev to turn her kishkes inside out. Her tool of choice for this messy process was writing.

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Over decades Lev wrote herself from “an innocent abroad” and “a stranger in a strange land” to a badass old lady. Her columns in The Jerusalem Post and The Cleveland Jewish News from 1984–2004 morphed from slices of Israeli life to essays of Lev’s inner life. Thus, this mother of three found her voice on the page.

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Never content with one voice, Lev began writing fiction, teaching both creative nonfiction and fiction to adults, and mentoring Anglo Israeli writers.

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In 2019 Lev revived her high school fascination with the Queen of Grief, Emily Dickinson. Since then she has put ten Dickinson poems to music. 

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Like Perry Como, the famous barber turned singer from the 1950’s, Lev often sings while she cuts hair.

 

Since October 14, 2023, Judy Lev has been writing Epistles from Israel, now on Substack at https://judylabensohn.substack.com/

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Our Names Do Not Appear, a memoir about the legacy of silenced childhood grief, was Lev’s first book. Bethlehem Road: stories of immigration and exile is her second book.