In this academy, he and Judah bar Nahman were alternately engaged to keep the congregation together until Johanan's arrival, and each was paid for his services two "selas" a week.
Once Levi argued that the prophet Jonah was a descendant of the tribe of Zebulun, deducing proof from Scripture.
[5] Levi's name but rarely appears in halakhic literature, and then mostly in connection with some Scriptural phrase supporting the dicta of others.
[8] In these lectures he would frequently advance different interpretations of a single text, addressing one to scholars and the other to the masses.
It is reported that for six months he lectured on I Kings 21:25 ("There was none like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord...").
Therefore, during the next six months Levi spoke as Ahab's defender, lecturing from the same verse, but omitting the middle clause.
[13] To render Scriptural terms more intelligible Levi frequently used parallels from cognate languages, especially Arabic.
Thus, commenting on Psalms 7:15 (A. V. 14), "He... has conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood," he says: "The Holy One having ordered Noah to admit into the ark pairs of every species of living beings.