Nolan Lebovitz

Nolan Lebovitz serves as the senior rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California. The horrific massacre of October 7 and its aftermath around the world prompted Lebovitz to begin speaking out about the next chapter of Jewish life. His first book, "The Case for Dual Loyalty: Healing the Divided Soul of American Jews", challenges the oldest taboo in the long history of the Jewish diaspora. It argues that proudly declaring Jewish loyalty forges a new path forward imbued with pride of peoplehood and collective destiny. For American Jews, "Dual loyalty" is not just about supporting Israel — as so many synagogues already proudly wave the flag of the Jewish state — it's about loyalty to Jewish peoplehood as a foundational principle of our identity, no less than our loyalty to America. In addition to his book, his writing appears in "The Jewish Journal" and "The Jerusalem Post". In 2024, he earned his PhD from Claremont Graduate University’s Religion Department, focusing on the study of the Hebrew Bible. That same year, he accepted a position as an adjunct fellow at the Z3 Institute, which is part of the Palo Alto-based Z3 Project that is helping develop the next stage of Jewish life. A Fulbright scholar, Lebovitz spent time in 2023 studying at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. He wrote and directed two documentaries: "Roadmap Jerusalem" in 2018 and "Roadmap Genesis" in 2015. He was ordained with a master’s degree from the American Jewish University’s Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in 2016. He earned his BA from the USC School of Cinema-Television. A grandson of four survivors of the Shoah (Holocaust), he carries an obligation to teach the lessons of our past in hopes that we can chart a new, more hopeful course forward for our collective Jewish future.