“I used to ask myself, if Hashem gave you a day to observe any time in the past – a bit like time traveling, without interference – what era would it be?” Yonatan Darlington recalls.
After much contemplation, he decided he’d choose to observe the forefather Abraham before the akeida (the binding of Isaac). “The man had a difficult command from Hashem, yet he had the peace of mind to sleep that night, wake up early, and set off on his journey with maximum intention. What a faith!” Darlington marvels.
Darlington grew up in Nigeria in a Christian family that had no contact with Jews. However, he felt a pull to become Jewish after reading the entire Torah several times.
“I felt so at peace with it. I absolutely was in love with it, and I wanted to be Jewish, even though I had no Jewish influences whatsoever. I didn’t know you had to go through conversion,” he relates.
A journey to science
The fifth of six siblings, Darlington was just a teenager when his father passed away. In time, most of the family moved to the United Kingdom. He followed them in 2010 and earned an MA in drug design and discovery at the University of the West of Scotland. After taking a year off to work and travel around Europe, he pursued a PhD in synthetic chemistry at the University of Bath.
Collaborating with colleagues across the UK, Darlington focused on the design and synthesis of novel compounds as potential treatments for glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumor. “My love for scientific research grew exponentially. I was fascinated by mechanisms of reactions, processes, and life itself,” he says.
DURING HIS time in Bath, he decided to convert to Judaism. He began attending a synagogue in Bristol and became friends with the local United Synagogue chaplain, Rabbi Alex Tsykin, and the local Chabad rabbi, Mendy Singer. He once helped Rabbi Singer build a sukkah on the University of Bath campus, proudly wearing a kippah.
“I would attend Shabbat meals with Rabbi Tsykin and his wife, Ahuva. They always hosted lots of other students. He saw my commitment, and he wrote me a letter of recommendation to the London Beit Din,” he recounts.
He met with a dayan (rabbinic judge), who asked Darlington to come back after a further period of reflection. After that, his next prescribed step was to join a Jewish community. Until he completed his studies at Bath, he studied with a Beit Din-recommended tutor in London, Rabbi Mark Kampf.
“We had great lessons. I had lots of questions, naturally, on everything from Shabbat and kashrut, to tefila and brachot,” he says.
Darlington is intrigued by Hebrew and gematria, the mystical approach of biblical interpretation based on the numerical value of words. He loves studying the Five Books of Moses and once spent days comparing the phrases “vayigash Yehuda” in the Joseph story and “vayigash Avraham” in the Sodom story. “Both men boldly approached to appease, appeal, pray, and challenge. Such a fascinating comparison,” he notes.
After obtaining his PhD, he moved to Manchester in the summer of 2021. There, Rabbi Nir Nadav became his tutor. The rabbi and his wife, Jessica, provided Darlington with “fantastic support.”
He also became close with Rabbi Yehoshua Sofer at the Beis Yisroel synagogue, where he found a warm and welcoming community. Darlington lived temporarily in the home of Michael and Roz Livshin to experience firsthand the everyday practices of Jewish life.
In March 2022, Darlington’s mother died. “I was very close to my mother, and her passing was quite hard at the time,” he recalls. “My whole family had to go through a period of healing.”
Just a year later, the Beit Din deemed him ready for conversion. The night before March 1, 2023, “I hardly slept – unlike Abraham before the akeida – for excitement of knowing that the joy of Yiddishkeit, Torah, and mitzvot would soon be mine.”
Darlington relates how happy he was to finally put on a pair of tefillin, say the “Shema,” and get called up to the Torah by his new name, Yonatan, a biblical personality he has always admired.
“It was such an incredible experience, like a homecoming,” he recalls. He began learning Daf Yomi, a practice he has continued.
“Learning Gemara broadens your horizons, and you become more grounded in Halacha,” he explains. He also loves the “beauty, peace, and rest that comes with keeping Shabbat.”
HE’D VISITED Israel several times and felt it was important for a Jew to live in the Jewish homeland. He was in Israel on October 7, 2023, and the terrible events of that day only made his commitment stronger. In June 2024, he made aliyah.
He says that his prayers for a good landing in Israel were answered with a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.
His current research is geared toward chemical biology, designing new compounds for applications in drug discovery and design. His eventual goal is to go into academia.
Outside work, he enjoys tennis, football, nature, hiking, and cooking. An outgoing individual, he always has invitations for Shabbat meals in Rehovot and likes to explore other locations by spending Shabbat with friends of friends.
“Everyone knows someone somewhere. I want to experience the country, and I work full time, so spending Shabbat with great frum [religious] families around the country is how to do it.”
He particularly enjoys the South, where he says he can hear sanctity in the silence of the desert. “The land has a soul. I’ve been to many countries far and wide, and only this land has a soul. Hashem has His eyes on this land.”
Darlington is looking to settle down with a woman who shares his commitment to a Torah-observant lifestyle. He has a “bright and lovely” nine-year-old daughter, Adanna, from a previous marriage, whom he visits in England as frequently as possible.
He also finds time to participate in an online ulpan three evenings a week. “My aim is within a year to be able to hold a 10-minute conversation in Hebrew,” he says. “I’m not the kind of Anglo immigrant who will still be speaking English after 10 years. I refuse to speak English in the shuk; I push myself to speak Hebrew.”
He notes that Rehovot is the name of the final biblical well dug by Isaac after a series of wells that caused contention. The text explains that only after Rehovot did Isaac experience rest from strife and become fruitful. Darlington sees present-day Rehovot as a God-given place where he, too, can forge a peaceful and productive life. ■
Yonatan Darlington, 37: From Manchester to Rehovot, 2024