Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz is thrilled to serve as the Rabbi of Adat Shalom in West Los Angeles. Since Nolan’s arrival, Adat Shalom has presented innovative programming, welcomed many new members and has once again established a new religious school. Nolan was ordained by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic studies in 2016.
While in Rabbinical School, Nolan became a national board member of MERCAZ, the Zionist political arm of the Conservative Movement, and he is proud to have served as a delegate at the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem in 2015.
Nolan began attending Ziegler in 2011 after a 10-year career in the film industry. In 2013, Nolan decided to merge his two passions of Torah and film to make "Roadmap Genesis. It is a film documentary that makes the case that the Book of Genesis remains relevant in society today. Interviews in the film range from Gov. Mike Huckabee to Rabbi David Wolpe, from Alan Dershowitz to the late Archbishop of Chicago Francis Cardinal George, and many, many more. “Roadmap Genesis” was released in 2015 and is currently available through the website www.RoadmapGenesis.com and through iTunes. Nolan appeared at roughly thirty promotional speaking engagements with the film in 2015 and 2016.
Nolan also enjoys writing a blog for JewishJournal.com, which is titled “Israel, Torah and Me.” It has been picked up several times for the print edition as well.
During his career in Hollywood, Nolan worked as a writer, director and producer. In 2009, Nolan sold a webseries called “Bloody Knuckles” to Fox TV Studios and in 2010 Nolan was a producer attached to a pitch sold to Fox Network for a sit-com titled “How To Feel Manly In A Minivan.” Most notably, in 2008 Sony released his film “Tortured,” starring Laurence Fishburne, Cole Hauser and James Cromwell. It was a suspense thriller Nolan wrote and directed. In 2001, he graduated from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television.
A grandchild of four survivors of the Holocaust, Nolan was born and raised in the suburbs outside of Chicago. He grew up at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park and attended Solomon Schechter Day School. Nolan is married to his wife Blair, and they have three children. Nolan tries to live his life as an example for his own children that life is a journey and nobody is ever stuck in their path. Blair and Nolan encourage their children to follow their dreams – even in preschool.