As a beloved rebbi and Mashgiach as well as an international music personality, Rabbi Baruch Levine has been involved in chinuch and inspiring others in their avodas Hashem both within the classroom and without for nearly two decades.

Much of his own life’s inspiration was drawn from his years learning in Yeshivas Toras Moshe. 

A Toronto native, Rabbi Levine learned in Toras Moshe from 1995 – 1998 in the shiurim of Rav Shurkin, Rav Klein and the Rosh HaYeshiva, where he was zocheh to develop close kesharim with each of them, as well as with the Mashgiach.  Following that, he went on to learn in Yeshivas Mir, and upon his return to the U.S., joined BMG.

He got married in 2000 to Chanala Adler, and the couple eventually settled in the relatively new community of Waterbury, Connecticut, where they raised their four children and became pillars of what has become a vibrant Torah Community. Rabbi Levine has recently taken on the role of Mashgiach in the Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury, after serving as a fifth grade rebbi for the past seventeen years.  He particularly enjoyed the zechus of giving boys their first taste of Gemara and providing them with the foundations, tools and excitement for learning that will b’ezras Hashem last the rest of their lives.   In his new role as Mashgiach, he has the opportunity to impact a larger swath of talmidim, as he mentors rebbeim and helps talmidim have a productive and enjoyable school experience. 

Rabbi Levine’s professional music career developed in tandem to his chinuch career, and he sees them as very much complementing each other.  He views his mission as creating fresh and uplifting music that holds on strongly to our Yiddishe mesorah and taam.  This blend of originality rooted in strong mesorah is very much part of the values he received in Toras Moshe, and his years in yeshiva helped give expression to his developing talents. (In fact, his famous “Chasoif” was composed one Chanukah night in Toras Moshe, right after lighting in the yeshiva’s chatzer.)  

But, beyond that, his yeshiva experience gave him what he describes as a strong backbone in Torah-true hashkafah, and taught him how to keep that hashkafah front and center in a world that grows more challenging by the day.  The lessons and values that his rebbeim taught him still influence him today. For example, he relates how he learned what simchas haTorah is from Rav Shurkin; and from Rav Klein, that living a Torah way of life transforms you and your family.  He learned the meaning of real limud Torah, with deep understanding and sevara, from the Rosh HaYeshiva, and the Mashgiach’s vaadim on how to live one’s life and the way to connect to the avodah of the Yamim Tovim have left an impression on him until today.  

This lesson – that a rebbi’s impact lasts far beyond the classroom and can change a talmid’s life forever – is one that continues to guide his own mission as a mechanech.