Sea Cliff woman finds home and 'warm embrace' at East Hills JCC

Growing up as the youngest of three daughters in Brooklyn in a modern Orthodox Jewish household, Lori Levi said she had a single vision of her future.

“I just didn’t think about anything other than getting married and having a family,” Levi said.

That single vision did become her reality, but Levi, now 64 and living in Sea Cliff, feels as if she has lived multiple lifetimes.

She left the religious community of her childhood after coming out as a gay woman. But that decision would set her on a much different path. Levi would go on to become an EMT, a police officer, a chef and a mother. She also found her way back to her religion, finding spiritual solace as a personal trainer at the Sid Jacobson JCC in East Hills.

“I realized that there was a possibility for me to become who I really am and to be really true to myself,” Levi said about her life’s journey.

Levi said her parents did not shelter her and her sisters from the world. Her parents were big readers, and the family attended Broadway shows.

She also considered herself different than most girls with whom she went to yeshiva because she loved watching baseball and football with her father.

“I was very athletic. I was very into sports,” Levi said. “I was very different than my sisters.”

As she got older, she began to question her sexuality but felt there was no room to express those questions in the way she was brought up. 

When she wed at 19, her older sisters were already married.

“I did what was expected of me,” she said.

Her marriage introduced her to a new environment and new people. It also allowed her to reflect on her sexuality.

“I was associating with different people,” she said. “I was being exposed to a completely different world.”

After about 3 1⁄2 years of marriage, Levi came out to her husband, and they divorced.

She recalled that telling her parents she was gay was “very painful” and she was afraid she would lose her family.

It was a shock to her parents, but Levi said her sisters gave her immediate support.

“Eventually, we did get to a place where we were able to become a family again,” she said.

Helping others

Since she always had an interest in the medical field, Levi decided to support herself by becoming an EMT. After training, she also worked for a private ambulance company in Brooklyn for several years.

One day, while in the emergency department on duty, a police officer approached Levi and told her she should consider joining the force.

“I’ve observed you in here a couple of times, and I see how you handle yourself; I think you would make a really good police officer,” Levi said the officer told her.

Levi said she graduated in the top 5% her class at the NYPD academy at age 28. Her parents attended her graduation ceremony.

For almost eight years she worked at the 120th Precinct in Staten Island.

“I loved being a police officer,” Levi said. “I recovered a lost child to their parents. I gave CPR to people. I helped with domestic abuse situations. I really did feel that I had an impact on a one-to-one basis.”

But Levi’s police career was cut short, pushing her, once again, in a different direction.

While making an arrest, she injured her right wrist. Despite getting reconstructive surgery, Levi said she felt she could not physically perform 100% as an officer, and retired earlier than she had intended at the age of 35.

Although devastated, Levi didn’t stay off her feet for long.

“Eventually I realized that I was just way too young to be sitting at home doing nothing,” she said.

Changing direction

Levi decided to pursue her post-NYPD dream— going to culinary school and cooking professionally.

“I always say, cooking is in my DNA,” Levi said. “We learned how to cook sitting on the counter with my grandmother and my mother. Everybody in my family cooks.”

Levi worked in several restaurants in New York City and New Jersey before moving to Long Island in the late ’90s.

In 2007, she became a mother when she and her then-partner welcomed a daughter. She went to work at a food service company on Long Island, she said, as it offered more stable hours for family life than restaurant work.

But Levi missed being physically active, so in 2012, she obtained her personal training certification. She said she gained experience by training friends and family while working for the food service company, and eventually decided to train full time.

When she looked for gyms to apply to, the Sid Jacobson JCC stood out.

“I really wanted to work there because, for me, it would be like a full circle moment,” said Levi, who fondly recalled attending JCC camps as a child.

Finding herself at JCC

Levi was hired at the Sid Jacobson JCC in 2014 and was promoted to manager of fitness and conditioning 2 1⁄2  years ago.

Her co-workers said Levi’s dedication to helping others and her varied background allowed her to instantly become an integral part of multiple departments.

“Not all of us have that type of passion, and it shows in everything she does,” said Steve Miller, director of health and wellness. “She will engage anyone. She’s extremely knowledgeable.”

Chief Operating Officer Lisa Rosenkrantz said she sees firsthand how Levi’s passion inspires others.

Rosenkrantz said she herself went from being on the couch to working out with JCC trainers four times a week. Although she does not always train with Levi, Rosenkrantz said the conversations they have are the main motivator behind a newly shared enthusiasm for exercise.

“I watched her stop working with her clients, walk over to another member and be like . . . let me just fix what you’re doing so that you don’t get hurt,” Rosenkrantz said.

Levi also teaches a monthly basic culinary class for neurodivergent young adults and an aqua aerobics class at the JCC.

As a former martial artist who competed in Judo tournaments and was a silver medalist in the Empire State games in her 20s, Levi recently led an LGBTQ self-defense workshop as a collaborative event among local JCCs.

“You don’t get many staff that actually touch upon so many different departments the way she has,” Rosenkrantz said. “It’s like it’s in her blood to be part of the JCC.”

In his two years supervising Levi, Miller said he is amazed at how members of all ages and departments adore her.

Once when the administration attempted to reassign Levi at a different activity at a different time, the aqua class, who call themselves “mermaids,” presented a petition to re-enlist Levi as their instructor.

“She’s somebody we look up to,” Miller said. “She’s very dedicated. She’s in the building a lot more than she’s supposed to be. And she’s an asset to have around.”

While she does not live by the Orthodox traditions she grew up with, Levi said she is still very connected to her Jewish roots.

“They are like a warm embrace every time you walk through those doors,” Levi said. “I can totally be myself there in every way — as a proud Jewish woman, as a member of the LGBTQIA-plus communit. I’ve never felt uncomfortable there.”

Making new traditions

Levi said she appreciates her childhood because it taught her traditions she can now pass on to her daughter.

“I want her to have the ability to acknowledge her own roots in Judaism,” Levi said.

Her family celebrates holidays, including lighting candles at Hannukah and having Passover seders.

Levi also hosted a large bat mitzvah party for her daughter when she was 12, the age a girl becomes an adult in Jewish faith. 

Her religious upbringing also gave her a moral compass on how to treat others, Levi said, and is something she has shared with her daughter.

Now, she is in a place where she can celebrate both her Jewish background and her multifaceted identity, while helping people.

She said she believes the breadth of experience she brings to the JCC makes it a more welcoming place.

“If somebody like me is walking through those doors as a member or potential employee, they know that there are people like me who work there,” Levi said, adding that she can “ offer them companionship and any assistance in making their life as comfortable as possible.”