Chava Willig Levy dies at 71

Author, editor, advocate and Woodmere resident Chava Willig Levy, died on April 6, at the age of 71.

“God made miracles so that she arrived home from the hospital 20 minutes before the first Passover Seder,” her husband, Michael, said.  “She remained alert until the last beloved folk song, ‘Chad Gadya’. God took her home on the feast of freedom, welcoming her to His Palace.”

Levy was born in Brooklyn to Ella and Rabbi Jerome Willig and raised in the Kew Gardens Hills section of Queens, the third of four children.  At 3 she contracted polio in 1955, four months after a polio vaccine was discovered, but before the vaccine became widely available.

After being hospitalized for months and attached to an iron lung, she survived the disease but suffered permanent paralysis from the neck down. She spent much of her childhood away from family, who at the time lived in Brooklyn, and spent much of her time in the hospital for treatment. 

She became an award-winning author and an advocate for individuals with disabilities. Levy earned her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Yeshiva University in French literature and her master’s degree in counseling psychology from Columbia University. She became a writer, a lecturer and a podcast host, sharing both her incredible story and her philosophy of disability with synagogues and groups near and far. 

Throughout her life, Levy experienced discrimination and segregation due to her disabilities. Confined to a motorized wheelchair, she aspired to dispel stereotypes about people with disabilities.

“People who should have known better doubted that she would ever walk, get a good education, spend a year in Israel, marry, have children, or have a successful career,” Michael said. “She disproved them all.”

Michael and Chavi were introduced to each other in 1982 by Sandee Brawarsky a journalist and author. The couple struggled to have children and even considered adoption.

“She bore the burden of tests, injections, and disappointments again and again, being told that she had a ten percent chance until we fell into the loving care of Dr. Yvonne Thornton,” Michael said.

A daughter Tehilah Sarah was born in 1989, followed by Aharon Elchanan  two years later.

Levy published a memoir, “A Life Not with Standing” in 2013. An internationally known motivational speaker famous, she captivated audiences ranging. Levy founded her own communications-consulting firm, and became an advocate for disability rights, giving numerous lectures and writing many articles for numerous publications.

She also has a communications-consulting firm —  Lucidity Unlimited — that offers such services as writing brochures, resumes, speeches, marketing materials and editing books.

Levy hosted a podcast, “Breathtaking,” in which she focused on music, lyrics, poetry, humor, children, womanhood, spirituality, and living a life with disabilities.

As occurs with many post-polio survivors, her muscles began to deteriorate but as part of her advocacy, she called on people to take the polio vaccine and for parents to ensure that their children receive it, noting that the vaccine is effective and safe and has nearly eradicated the disease.

“Even as the end drew near, she begged mothers to vaccinate their children against the recent polio outbreak,” Michael said.

Chavi is survived by her husband, her brothers Rabbi Mordechai and Rabbi David Willig and sister Tamar Bannett, and her children Tehilah and Tuvia Negreann, Aharon and Nissa Levy.

The funeral was held at the Eretz Hachaim cemetery in Beit Shemesh, Israel on April 10.