Who's Who at the JRCC
Rabbi Levi Y. Jacobson
Director JRCC of Thornhill
416.222.7105 x240
[email protected]
Rabbi Levi Jacobson was born and raised in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., the Rebbe’s community. His father was born in Germany, and his mother in Israel, where they met, married and moved to N.Y. to build a family of eight children, Levi being the oldest. Having studied at the educational institute of Ohalei Torah, Brooklyn, Tomchei T’mimim in Israel, the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, NJ, and the Central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn, Levi was the recipient of many awards for his outstanding academic and behavioural achievements.
He received his rabbinical ordination and certification for ritual slaughter in 1996 from Rabbi Pinchas Hirshprung, the late chief rabbi of Montreal. Growing up at the Rebbe's feet, where he learned the meaning of giving to others, Rabbi Jacobson began delivering talks in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and travelling to desolate communities to organize communal holiday services and adult education programs at the early age of 16. These were the first of many trips that would later take him to far-flung places, such as Shanghai, Finland, South Africa, Greece, Italy, and Thailand, as well as dozens of American cities.
With the experience gained from these adventures, coupled with his solid foundation of Jewish knowledge—he completed the entire Talmud by the of 19, a feat many do not accomplish during a lifetime —and his extensive knowledge of the inner dimensions of Torah, Rabbi Jacobson found his calling in sharing the infinite wisdom of Judaism with others. In 1997, he was married to Nechama Dina from Montreal, and in August of 1998, he joined the JRCC, in the capacity of director of adult education, while also serving as a TA for an award-winning science and religion course at the University of Toronto. Rabbi Jacobson later started the JRCC West Thornhill, a community centre focused on education and inspiration programs and services, as well as Gen J, the JRCC’s programs and activities for young adults.
Nechama Dina Jacobson (nee Silberstein) was born in Montreal to children of Holocaust survivors from Romania, Poland and Austria. Her father, Rabbi Zushe Silberstein, is a well-known rabbi and shliach in Montreal with many accomplishments.
Nechama Dina graduated from Beth Rivkah Academy in 1994 and received a degree in education from College Marie Victorin in 1996. As a student, she worked with children in summer camps in Europe, Canada and the U.S.A. and later as an elementary and high school teacher in Montreal and New York where she also taught in a special education preschool.
In 1997, Nechama Dina married Rabbi Levi Jacobson and moved to Toronto to work with the JRCC as shluchim for the Jewish Russian community. Since then, Nechama Dina has taught at the JRCC Daycare and is a mentor and leader to many in the community. Together with her husband, Nechama Dina is the director the Jewish Russian Community Centre of West Thornhill.
Rabbi Levi and Nechama Dina Jacobson reside in Thornhill with their children.
