About Rabbi David Leipziger Teva

Rabbi David was born on the Tropic of Capricorn, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Upon learning that he did not qualify for the Brazilian World Cup soccer team, he changed career paths and decided to become a rabbi.

Rabbi David has studied at Columbia University (BA), The Jewish Theological Seminary (BA), Yakar, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (MHL and Rabbinic Ordination), and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2015 he completed a second Smikha/Ordination with Aleph: Allliance for Jewish Renewal in the lineage of his beloved teacher and friend Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z'l.

His interests include: trekking in Nepal, making sure the Jewish People not only survive but also thrive, and avoiding speeding tickets.

He has been a visiting instructor in Wesleyan’s religion department where he has taught Religion 474SP Talmudic Stories: Snapshots of Rabbinic Fantasy, Imagination, and Theology. He has also taught in Wesleyan's College of the Environment and lectured in other academic departments. 

Rabbi David’s academic interests include: Hassidut, the evolutionary development of Judaism, and new methodologies and pedagogy for inter-religious and interfaith dialogue.    

With Imam Abdullah Antepli, he co-led Wesleyan’s Jewish/Muslim Dialogue Travel Seminar to Istanbul and Jerusalem, which was recently featured in the documentary Heart to Heart.

His 2009 collaborative Sukkah project with Prof. Elijah Huge and the Architecture Studio won the Religious Art and Architecture Design Award in the category of Sacred Lanscapes by Faith and Form, an interfaith journal of religious art and architecture, and featured at the 2010 National Convention of the American Institute of Architects.

Rabbi David has worked as a Jewish chaplain/campus rabbi since 1996 at the following universities: Princeton, UPenn, and Bucknell. He joined Wesleyan University in 2002 and in 2007 became the founding director of Wesleyan’s Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.
 
Feel free to contact Rabbi David at his campus address:

Rabbi David Leipziger Teva
University Jewish Chaplain 
Wesleyan University
169 High Street (2nd Floor)
Middletown, CT 06459

Voice: 860-685-2278
dleipziger@wesleyan.edu

For mailing address, send mail to the following address:

Rabbi David Leipziger Teva
University Jewish Chaplain  
Wesleyan University
171 Church Street
Middletown, CT 06459