An encounter with Rabbi Sacks, a Jewish leader who inspired a generation
Rabbi Sacks was wise, kind and humble. We discussed many things, yet there was one piece of advice that has guided my thoughts ever since, embodying within it much of who Rabbi Sacks was. I was at a crossroads, I explained. I was learning for the rabbinate, beginning law and philosophy studies, and was passionate about Jewish leadership and Israeli politics. I expected to hear the advice Rabbi Sacks received from the Rebbe, maybe even hoping for it. I was positive that I had flown to London to hear that I must be a rabbi. But Rabbi Sacks was truly a leader, a creator of leaders. Above all, he knew how to translate the message, for a whole generation, and for each person individually.Remembering Jewish giants: Adin Steinsaltz, Jonathan Sacks – opinion
Rabbi Sacks did not in fact advise me to be a rabbi. Israel is unique, he said. Its public sphere is not shaped by rabbis in the same way that Diaspora communities are. Listening to my story, he crafted the befitting message. The Rebbe had told Rabbi Sacks to become a community rabbi and train Jewish leaders. If I wanted to help shape the Jewish future, Rabbi Sacks claimed, being a rabbi, for me, may not be the only path.
Rabbi Sacks challenged me to seek the platforms to promote Judaism and Israel, and shape Jewish peoplehood in the special arena of a Jewish homeland. Jewish leadership in every place and generation takes different form. I should dedicate my life to Klal Yisrael by seeking those spaces in which the Jewish people need public servants for tomorrow.
Beyond his unbounded wisdom, humility and kindness, Rabbi Sacks uniquely carried the mantle of Jewish translation. Second-century tanna Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi translated the Oral Torah and kept it alive. The Rambam translated Judaism to philosophy. Rabbi Sacks translated Judaism to the world, and the world to Judaism.
He taught the UK, the queen and all who would listen, that Judaism promoted a particularism, a “dignity of difference.” And he translated a message of universalism to Judaism, inspiring a generation of Jews to try and “heal a fractured world.” During my brief, yet powerful encounter with Rabbi Sacks, he translated the advice he received in his youth, to help guide my life, recognizing the dignity and difference in everyone. May his memory be a blessing for all of us.
In the last month, two Jewish giants left us: Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz-Even Yisroel, and Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Each in their own way left a great impression on the Jewish people and the world around them.
Rabbi Steinsaltz’s remarkable intellectual bounty included opening the Talmud with his historic translation. He authored dozens of works, including a modern commentary on the Torah synergizing classical scholarship with contemporary insights.
Rabbi Sacks’s strength was in connecting two worlds: the depth of Jewish scholarship and contemporary thought. He was able to bridge the secular bastion of Oxford and the world of Torah, becoming an articulate spokesman of Judaism to Jews and non-Jews, even on the airwaves of the BBC.
Both did not fit the conventional Jewish religious mold. While continuing to remain committed to Halacha, Jewish law, they were able to reach beyond the world of Orthodox Judaism and impact the broader society.
They shared the quality of individualism. Steinsaltz was the classic enfant terrible, always willing to challenge traditional thought. Some years ago, I organized the National Conference on Jewish and Contemporary Law headlined by Rabbi Steinsaltz and former US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Israel Advocacy Movement: DEBATE: Is anti-Zionism anti-Semitism?
Panellists… Joseph Cohen - Israel Advocacy Movement Dr Ronald Mendel - Palestine Museum Joanna Phillips - Jewdas Sabrina Miller Moderator: Izzy Posen