Chaplain at Cedars-Sinai
Rabbi Levi Meier, 62, chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for 29 years, died Sunday at his Los Angeles home after a long illness, the hospital announced.
Meier arrived at Cedars-Sinai in 1978 and as the hospital’s spiritual leader ministered to patients, their families and the staff. He led ceremonies on the High Holy Days -- Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana -- as well as weekly Sabbath services that were broadcast over the hospital’s closed-circuit TV system. He also commissioned a small “traveling Torah” scroll to be taken to bedridden patients’ rooms.
Founded as a Jewish hospital, Cedars-Sinai is now a secular institution.
A clinical psychologist and biblical scholar, Meier wrote “Moses, the Prince the Prophet: His Life, Legend and Message for Our Lives” (1998) and “Ancient Secrets: Using the Stories of the Bible to Improve Our Everyday Lives” (1996).
Born June 30, 1946, in New York City, Meier studied at Yeshiva University in New York and was ordained a rabbi. He earned a doctorate in psychology from USC.
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