Rebecca Amato Levy
Rebecca Amato Levy lived a life that blended cultures while maintaining her love for her homeland. Her early life under Italian occupied Rhodes in a small Sephardic community was a fundamental experience that influenced every decision and move she made. She lived her life as a devout Jew who valued family, learning, and giving. Her community was shrinking since the day she was born, as young men, including her future husband Victory Levy, left the island in search of better opportunities.
Rebecca was educated at a French sponsored Hebrew School, where she learned both French and Italian. When her education ended, she apprenticed to be a dressmaker and soon thereafter married Moshe Hasson, a tailor. It was his connections that got the couple out of Rhodes and into Morocco as World War II broke out. There, the couple worked with HIAS in providing their community back on Rhodes with assistance. When Hassen passed away, she turned to HIAS; they helped her get in contact with her late husband’s cousin and future husband Victor, who provided a sponsorship for Rebecca and her daughter in the United States.
After a brief stopover in New York City, Rebecca took a train to Los Angeles without speaking any English, where she convened with Victor. The couple soon wed, blended their families, and ran a small grocery in downtown Los Angeles. Within a few short years, Rebecca had integrated herself into Los Angeles’s Sephardic community, learned English, and became a US citizen.
Rebecca reflected on her first ten years in Los Angeles as a time she learned much about different communities, which was facilitated by rapidly changing demographics in their own neighborhood. As the couple’s business thrived, they chose to follow many others in their community to Baldwin Hills, a neighborhood that Rebecca thought would provide a better education for their daughter. It took some time, but eventually their temple would relocate to Westwood. After Victor passed, Rebecca retired from the grocery store and moved to Beverly Hills, reflecting some accumulated affluence and a desire to be that much closer to her temple.
Rebecca spent her retirement traveling often, visiting her homeland and daughter in France. She also dedicated her spare time to her temple and other Jewish organization in Los Angeles. Later in life, she would write a book called I Remember Rhodes which would become the basis for a documentary, produced by her own grandson.