Miriam Levitin’s involvement in the Jewish community predates her recent launch of Luv with Lev, a community-based matchmaking service.
Passionate about teaching and advocating for healthy relationships, the young professional is currently a freelance sexuality educator, leading workshops and retreats, including within the Washington, D.C.-area Jewish community.
She taught religious school at Temple Sinai in Washington, D.C., for two academic years starting in 2021 and is currently on reserve as a substitute teacher.
Levitin worked as a sexual health program coordinator at the University of Maryland for three years and managed the teen dating violence prevention program at the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse based in Rockville.
Levitin lives in the Petworth neighborhood of D.C. and belongs to Adas Israel Congregation.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I grew up on Long Island surprisingly in a very not Jewish town. Both my parents are Jewish; everyone in my family is Jewish. I was raised Reform, grew up going to a Reform synagogue. I was always very aware of my Jewish identity because I was one of very few Jewish kids in my town. For better or for worse, it was always very clear I’m Jewish, something that’s part of my identity and not something I took for granted.
Why do you enjoy building community?
I love connecting with people. There’s a song we used to sing in Hebrew school growing up that went, “Wherever you go, there’s always someone Jewish. You’re never alone when you say you’re a Jew.” That really resonated with me as I graduated high school and prepared to go to college; I wanted to be involved in Jewish community.
What I love about being part of a community is it’s not [that] you like every single person in the community or you want to be best friends with every person, but there’s a shared sense of respect. There’s a comfort that comes with being part of a community where people care about each other and show up for each other. The Jewish community I experienced in college became my home away from home even though I was part of lots of different communities.
What personality traits do you have that lend themselves to being a matchmaker?
I am very curious about people and interested in connecting with people and learning people’s stories. I’m very empathetic; I feel things very deeply and I enjoy helping people feel affirmed and seen and supported. I get a lot of joy from caring for others; that’s important to me. I take principles of harm reduction from social work and public health spaces: meeting people where they’re at, seeing the whole person, believing every person.
What responsibilities do you have as a freelance educator?
I say, “Anyone who will pay me to talk about sexual health or healthy relationships, I will be there.” I’ve done a lot of different gigs, from going into middle schools to talk about puberty and reproduction to teaching young professionals about communication and dating. I’ve done a lot of different work there. I most recently got to help facilitate a ninth grade sexuality retreat with Washington Hebrew Congregation. I’ve done work in different Jewish spaces with middle and high schoolers talking about healthy relationships.
Why is it important to you to talk about healthy relationships and sexual health?
Most people are like, “Talking to middle schoolers about puberty? Sounds like a nightmare.” When I grew up, my mom was an OB-GYN. I was really fortunate that I think, unlike a lot of people in this country, those conversations were really open and honest and supportive for me at home. I was never fed any stories about a stork; I knew exactly where babies came from and what my mom did. She was so amazing in answering all my questions and giving me a good education. I was really lucky to be able to have those conversations at home. As I went to college, I realized that this is totally not the norm for other people, so I was the person that people would come to and ask their questions.
How does your work relate to Jewish values?
I think there’s a misconception that religion is the opposite of sexual liberation, that religion always gives mixed messages around sex. And that’s not true; that’s certainly not true for Judaism. There’s actually a lot of great content that supports sexuality. If you go back to the ancient texts, it’s not as progressive as modern interpretations of Judaism, but it can still be more progressive than some other religions, and that’s something I’ve always appreciated about Judaism. Judaism also has support for reproductive rights in a way that other folks don’t really.
[Judaism champions] the values of kindness and respect, chesed, kavod. There’s text about communicating honestly even if it might not be what someone wants to hear — open communication, boundary setting and the healthy relationship support that I do.
Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?
Matchmaking has been the big focus [as of late]. I’m just excited to see what I’ve been working so hard on resonate with people. It’s so meaningful to me.
