Our guest this week is Rabbi Reuven Leigh, Director of The Cambridge Lehrhaus: Centre for Jewish Thought and Chaplain at Cambridge University. Born and raised in London, Rabbi Leigh studied at religious academies in Manchester and Montreal. Upon graduating in 1999, he assumed a rabbinic internship in New Haven, Connecticut. He subsequently received his Rabbinic Ordination in 2001 and was appointed as a lecturer in chassidic philosophy at the Central Lubavitcher Yeshiva. In 2003, he founded Chabad of Cambridge. Rabbi Leigh was recently recognised as a Master of Philosophy by the University for his essay entitled “Modern Orthodoxy or Orthodox Modernity”.
This week's Torah portion – Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37:1-40:23) – features the first part of the story of Joseph and his brothers. It begins with Joseph's dreams and continues to tell us about how he was sold into slavery by his brothers, about the affair with Potiphar's wife, and about the beginnings of his career as an interpreter of dreams. Our talk discusses the relation between the story of Judah and Tamar and the story of Joseph.
If you would like to learn some more about parashat Vayeshev, check out our conversation with Rabbi Harold Robinson.
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