As the University of Pretoria (UP) concludes its Autumn 2025 graduation season, one story stands out for its depth of faith, determination and academic transformation.

Rabbi Gavin Michal, a long-serving Orthodox rabbi from Johannesburg, is among the graduates who prove that it’s never too late to start again. After three decades in the rabbinate, Rabbi Michal returned to academia to pursue a lifelong dream – culminating in the awarding of a PhD from UP’s Faculty of Theology and Religion.

UP’s Autumn 2025 graduation season saw more than 12 000 students receive their qualifications. Rabbi Michal received his PhD during the Faculty of Theology and Religion’s graduation ceremony in May of 2025.

He says his decision to return to university fulfilled a lifelong ambition to expand his studies into academia. “I was always fascinated by the didactics and preciseness of academic writing as a means to attempt a fuller understanding of the interesting questions that confront us when we dare to think,” he explains. “UP was kind enough to accept me as a student, but I had to start with an honours degree.”

His honours studies through UP’s Faculty of Theology and Religion started at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which meant he only had online classes at the beginning. Still, despite the additional challenges, he completed his honours degree cum laude (with distinction).

Getting even that far required immense bravery. “When I saw the course outline, I decided to give up even before I started, because I had never delved into academic biblical studies before. At the last moment I changed my mind and dived in... and eventually graduated cum laude and made the Dean’s Merit List.”

After receiving his honours degree, he moved straight on to the next academic challenge. “My master’s degree was on Jewish messianism from 500 BCE up to the 17th-century false messiah Shabbatai Tzvi. I am more at home doing research rather than coursework, with access to an unbelievable array of source material from all over the world, delving into ideas and facts I could never have imagined.”

Rabbi Michal completed his master’s degree with distinction as well and made the Dean’s Merit List for the second year in a row.

Tackling a PhD

With three degrees under his belt, Michal decided to keep going and tackle the biggest academic challenge: a doctoral degree, also with UP’s Faculty of Theology and Religion. His doctoral research was influenced, in part, by his master’s research. “The PhD was on a most intriguing matter concerning influences from Shabbatai Tzvi on the Chassidic and Mitnagdic movements. This way the master’s flowed into the PhD and both became facets of a unified research project.”

While completing his studies, he drew on the discipline he had learned from studying during the COVID crisis. “I am so glad that I first had to sit with younger students – online, as it was COVID – during the honours degree, as it taught me discipline and gave me a solid grounding, without which I wouldn’t have had the tools for the master’s and PhD.”

He has since formed deep connections with the academic supervisors and professors who helped him throughout his academic career. Thanks to his hard work and the support of his mentors, he has published four research articles to date and has presented multiple research papers at academic conferences.

“The rigorous process of having one’s work peer-reviewed in a double-blind manner [where neither the reviewers nor the authors know each other’s identities] is daunting and challenging, and only having gone through the procedure can I appreciate the value of academic publications,” he says. “It’s nothing like publishing in a newspaper or a magazine. There is a protracted to-and-fro, and the process can take up to a year, often requiring extensive rewriting and solid source-based argumentation.”

Looking ahead

Although most people would assume academic achievements end at the completion of a PhD, Michal plans to take his studies even further. He hopes to adapt his doctoral thesis into a project that is more accessible to the general public. As an aspiring author, he aims to convert his research on “such a fascinating and disputed period of theological history” into a book.

Rabbi Gavin Michal’s story is a powerful reminder that it is never too late to pursue your dreams, whatever they may be. No matter how daunting it may seem, taking a leap of faith might just lead to life-changing endeavours – and great success.