As an ambassador for University Jewish Chaplaincy, Rabbi Jonathan Hughes visits schools and encourages pupils to embrace their Jewish identities as they move to university.
It may come as a surprise, then, to learn that, growing up, he was more likely to become a footballer than a rabbi - and he only found Judaism at the age of 18.
"I grew up in Reading, with a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father," Rabbi Hughes said. "We weren't practising, so it wasn't until I went to UCL to study law, and met a religious Jew in my very first lecture, that I learnt about it."
He developed a love for the faith, and eight years later returned from Israel as a rabbi with his growing family in tow. He is now moving from Richmond to become the spiritual head of Radlett shul in Hertfordshire.
