Music is the universal language, and true talent has a way of building bridges across the most tenuous divides. Yair Levi is a unique voice on today’s global music landscape - seeing success within Christian music while maintaining his identity as an Orthodox Israeli Jew. The success can be attributed to his universally compelling songwriting which has provided a platform that is expanding his reach beyond his Israeli home to the U.S. and around the world.
A former officer in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Levi is an Orthodox Jewish worship leader who has earned the respect of both Jewish and Christian audiences through such riveting songs as “Refa Na, (Please Heal Her),” a powerful prayer written for his ailing grandmother that has been translated into multiple languages and viewed millions of times on YouTube. More recently he has collaborated with Christian writers in Nashville such as Ryan Hall, Todd Smith, Mike Weaver, Tony Wood and Michael Farren. His newest effort, “Back to You (Sabbath),” penned with Hall, is currently melting hearts with its poignant lyric and comforting message.
“I feel the most important thing is to wake up every morning and to say to God, ‘What do you want of me? Let me be your vessel. Let me be your messenger. Tell me what you want from me,’” Levi says. “This is how I wake up every morning; I’m working on it. I’m trying to remind myself all the time that it’s not about myself.”
01 / THE ROOTS
The roots
Originally from Zichron Ya’akov near Haifa in the northern part of Israel, Levi moved near Tel Aviv after he and his wife married. Music was always a passion and due to his diverse family background, his creative influences are varied. “In Israel people come from different countries so half of my family is from Yemen, a quarter are from Poland, and a quarter from Tunisia. It’s very mixed so we listen to everything,” Levi says. “When I was 16, we decided to make a band. It’s funny because we could do Arabic, we could do reggae, and we could do rock & roll. We learned Led Zeppelin and could play everything.”
Levi recalls playing his first show in Israel at age 17 and his band performing a variety of styles of music. “It was a lot of different kinds of music that we played in the same show,” he recalls with a smile. “We didn’t care and the audience didn’t mind. It made sense to us and today I understand that’s not how it works, but we were very naive and just wanted to do what we wanted.”
02 / A LIFE OF SERVICE
A life of service
The band’s talent and versatility earned them a loyal following but Levi’s youthful passion for music gave way to a higher calling on his life—the military. In Israel, all young people are required to serve two years when they turned 18, but for Levi, it wasn’t an obligation, it was a mission the enthusiastically embraced.
“People advised me, ‘Go to a unit in the middle of Tel Aviv where you don’t do a lot. You can still make your music, but you are in uniform and give help to the fighters.’ But I decided to go and be a fighter. I grew up in a family that it wasn’t even a question. My grandfather ran from Poland during the Holocaust. He survived with his family in the forest. His mom gave birth in the middle of the forest when she escaped from the Nazis. She just cleaned herself and kept walking when he came to life. We grew up on stories like this. Jewish people have suffered for 2,000 years. I grew up on the fact that to go and serve your country is a great honor.”
Levi became a major in an elite unit in the Israeli army comparable to the Navy Seals in the American military. He remained in the military for eight years but never totally gave up his music. “I wrote most of my first album in the Army so even during this time, I continued to make music,” he says, noting it was a conversation with one of his officers that led to him pursuing music. “He made me understand that I needed to fulfill my dream, so I decided to quit and pursue music.”
As he poured his heart into writing and recording songs, Levi began to gain traction on Israeli radio stations. “I was traveling all over Israel and performing,” he recalls. “I had a music concept show where I was sharing my story and playing songs and I performed it more than 300 times in two years.”
03 / A PRAYER THAT TRAVELLED
“Refa Na”
However, like many thriving musicians, everything came to a screeching halt when Covid hit. Suddenly he was worried about providing for his growing family. “Everything was canceled,” he remembers. “I got a call that my grandmother had become very ill and I began writing a song for her. It was very simple, ‘Please God heal her.’ Right away I felt a melody coming to my heart, so I ran to the guitar. I think I still have the voice memo of my kids jumping around while trying to compose it. I just wanted to release it as soon as possible and I didn’t care how it was going to happen; I just wanted this song to be out for my grandma.”
The simple outpouring of his heart in song soon became a viral hit. “People told me about Zoom and I found myself doing multiple events each night,” he says. “People started to sing it in Hebrew and others tried to sing the song in their languages. One of the biggest singers in China released it in Chinese. To pass the government, they needed to change the name of God because it’s not allowed. Then a big band in Germany decided to do this song and a lady from Lebanon and translated it to Arabic. It became much more than just a song.”
04 / AN UNEXPECTED CALLING
An unexpected calling
As his music began to have a global impact, Levi was surprised to begin getting invitations from churches in the U.S. to come and lead worship. “I felt like something was happening, not like another song or music, it was a calling from God, but there is a rule in Judaism that you are not allowed to go into churches,” he explains.
Even though a prominent rabbi gave him permission to go into Christian churches outside Israel, Levi admits he was hesitant. As a married father with four children, he was concerned about the backlash he would face. “I remember talking with God saying, ‘What do you want from me? Why are they listening to my music? I don’t want to do it,’” he admits. “My wife said, ‘It’s not about what you want to do. It’s about what God wants for you.’ Then I understood it was a mission. God was sending me. I flew to the U.S. for the first time and people were singing and praying and worshipping together. I realized what a worship event was and started to worship a lot with these people. I had many Christians telling me, ‘We are praying for Israel every week, but you are the first Israeli that we’ve ever met.’”
05 / THE NASHVILLE CONNECTION
The Nashville connection
As Levi’s music continued to expand beyond his native Israel, God opened a door that would lead to his recording in Nashville. Singer/songwriter Todd Smith, a founding member of the award-winning group Selah, reached out to Levi and invited him to come to Nashville and write songs. He was scheduled to co-write with Big Daddy Weave’s Mike Weaver and the day before, Weaver got a message from a record company executive who was visiting Israel. He contacted Weaver saying he was interested in an artist named Yair Levi. Weaver said, “Are you kidding me? He’s coming to write with tomorrow.”
God’s providence took Levi by surprise. “I started to make sense of what was going on. This door that opened for me is something that people try to do in this industry for years, and it just happened. I released a song called ‘Blessed’ with the Curb Records. It was part of their project called The Church Will Sing and it became a viral hit.”
2026 looks to be a big year for Levi. Andrew Bergthold, a member of acclaimed band We the Kingdom, is producing is producing his new songs and Levi is excited about the collaboration. “The musicians are amazing people from Nashville. The album is going to be 99% English, but every song will have something in Hebrew,” he shares. “I wrote ‘Back to You (Sabbath)’ with Ryan Hall. I love Sabbath. It’s very important to me. Sabbath is the source of blessing.”
Bergthold, Smith and Levi have written a song called “Whole God” that is a powerful worship song. “Miracles,” penned by Bergthold and Levi, has instantly became a favorite of Levi’s seven-year-old daughter. “I wrote most of it alone at my house and hen my daughter heard me playing it, she loved it,” he smiles. “It says thank you God for all I have and I don’t need big miracles to believe that you are so great, but I believe in miracles.”
06 / BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER
Bringing people together
Levi also believes in bringing people together through music. “I’m proud to be the bridge between two beautiful communities,” he says. “I’m also a Levite, from the family of the Levites. The Levites used to oversee working in the Temple. They were in charge of singing. I have felt God saying to me, ‘Do you think you are the first Levite to sing to the nations?’ Then I realized when the Levites were standing on stage in Jerusalem many years ago and they were singing to everyone.”
Creating music that uplifts all people and leads them to worship the almighty God is Levi’s calling and with one listen, it’s easy to hear that it lights up his soul. “I feel so much joy to see we are coming together with respect and understanding that there are differences,” he says. “I feel that God is very pleased. He is the Father and I don’t feel the responsibility to have all the answers, but I do know that he is really pleased that we are coming together and trying to know each other.”