Twenty-five years later and the affable Mancunian is currently four months into his new role as the Movement for Reform Judaism’s chief executive officer.

He became Finchley Reform Synagogue’s education director in 1999 — to “pay the rent” — but he enjoyed the experience so much that he decided to gain his semicha at Leo Baeck College.

“I was in my early 20s, and I was trying to work out what I was going to do and what I was going to be,” London-based Rabbi Levy told the Jewish Telegraph.

“I went to work at Finchley in order to pay the rent, but realised that I had a passion for Jewish life and tradition, and that I wasn’t doing it just to pay my bills.”

He became a much-loved minister at Alyth (North Western Reform Synagogue), in London, and spent 15 years in that role.

But Rabbi Levy left as the opportunity at Movement for Reform Judaism was too good to turn down, especially with the planned amalgamation between Reform and Liberal Judaism.

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