Player Biographies: Dan Shevitz, Percussion
Rabbi Dan Shevitz serves Congregation
Mishkon Tephilo in Venice, California,
just two blocks from the beach. He previously served Emanuel Synagogue in
Oklahoma City and as Hillel director and Jewish chaplain at MIT in Cambridge,
MA. He also teaches Talmud in the Rabbinical School of the
American Jewish University (formerly
the University of Judaism).
Rabbi Dan serves the community as a chaplain for the Los Angeles Police Department, and is Av Bet Din (president of the court) of the Southern California Community Bet Din, a pluralistic community court for conversion to Judaism.
He is a licensed private pilot, motorcyclist, and has apprenticed as an auto mechanic with Tom and Ray Magliozzi in Cambridge (of "Car Talk" on National Public Radio). He plays several instruments ineptly, except for the accordion, which he plays poorly, but it's less noticeable because it's an accordion. In 2007 he found his one true instrument – the timpani, which he is privileged to study with Aaron Smith – and currently plays it and other percussion with the Palisades Symphony. He is married to Amy Hill Shevitz, a Jewish historian as well as a violinist (who also plays with the Pali Symphony) and they live in Venice with Humuhumunukunuku, a Mollucan cockatoo ("M2").
