Jonathan Sacks, Baron Sacks

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Jonathan Sacks (2006)

Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks (born March 8, 1948 in London ; died November 7, 2020 ) was a British philosopher , theologian and politician . From 1991 to 2013 he was the British Grand Rabbi .

Life

Sacks attended St Mary's Primary School, Christ's College Secondary School in East Finchley , Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge University, New College at Oxford University , King's College at the University of London and the London School of Jewish Studies . He also attended the Etz Chaim Yeshiva Talmud College in London .

Sacks studied philosophy and graduated from King's College London with a Ph.D. from.

He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Cambridge , University of Glasgow , University of Haifa , Middlesex University , Yeshiva University , University of Liverpool and University of St Andrews . He was an Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius College and King's College London .

Sacks was chairman of the Chief Rabbi's Cabinet , which consists of fourteen other rabbis who advised him on various areas, such as Jewish education, Israel , Judeo-Christian relations, matters involving the Beth Din, and other areas affecting the Jewish community. The Chief Rabbi's Cabinet meets quarterly. Its members are entitled to represent the Grand Rabbi at public events.

Sacks was director of Jews' College, London , the world's oldest rabbinical seminary, and from 1978 to 1982 Rabbi of Golders Green and from 1983 to 1990 of Marble Arch in London. He was ordained a rabbi by both Jews' College and Etz Chaim Yeshiva.

Sacks was a regular guest on television and radio. He wrote articles for the national press, among others. He presented the BBC Reith Lectures on The Persistence of Faith in 1990 .

In recognition of his services to society as well as his interreligious dialogue, Sacks was ennobled as a Knight Bachelor at the Queen's Birthday Honors in 2005 . On September 1, 2009, at the suggestion of the House of Lords Appointments Commission, he was also raised to life peer as Baron Sacks , of Aldgate in the City of London , and was from then on a member of the House of Lords .

In 2013, Ephraim Mirvis succeeded him in the office of Grand Rabbi of the United Kingdom.

Jonathan Sacks died on November 7, 2020 at the age of 72 of complications from cancer .

Positions he held in the years before his death

  • Rabbi and Spiritual Leader of the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in London (from May 1, 2004)
  • Jakobovits Professor in Modern Jewish Doctrine , Jews' College London, 1982
  • Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth (from September 1, 1991)
  • Visiting Professor of Theology at King's College London
  • Honorary Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 1993
  • Presentation (Honorary) Fellow , King's College London, 1993

Previous positions

Awards

Controversy

Orthodox opposition

A group of rabbis, notably Rabbi Bezalel Rakow , accused Sacks of heresy against the tradition of Orthodox Judaism in his book The Dignity of Difference , in which he suggested that Judaism is not the only true religion. This prompted Sacks to revise and add to the book in the second edition. However, he refused to recall books that were already on sale.

Rabbi Gryn and Rabbi Jacobs

Sacks sparked heated controversy in the Anglo-Jewish community when he refused to attend the funeral service for Rabbi Hugo Gryn in 1996 . A private letter from Sacks, which he wrote in Hebrew and in which he claimed that Gryn was "one of those who destroy the faith", was known through an indiscretion and published. Sacks went on to write that he was an "enemy" of reform, the liberals and the Masorti movements, which led some to believe that Sacks was not the Grand Rabbi of all Jews in Britain.

He attended a memorial service for Gryn, which caused the anger of some in the ultra-Orthodox community. Sacks and the Beth Din took a similar point of view when they prevented retired Rabbi Louis Jacobs, who helped build the English section of the Masorti movement, from reading the Torah publicly on the Saturday before his granddaughter's wedding. In retrospect, Sacks admitted mistakes in the dispute over Rabbi Hugo Gryn and generally non-Orthodox Jews.

Works

  • 1989: Traditional alternatives: Orthodoxy and the future of the Jewish people
  • 1990: Tradition in an Untraditional Age
  • 1991: Persistence of Faith
  • 1991: Arguments for the Sake of Heaven
  • 1992: Crisis and Covenant
  • 1993: One People?
  • 1994: Will We Have Jewish Grandchildren?
  • 1995: Community of Faith
  • 1996: Torah Studies: Discourses by Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson
  • 1997: The Politics of Hope (2nd, revised edition 2000)
  • 1999: Morals and Markets
  • 2000: Celebrating Life
  • 2001: Radical Then, Radical Now (published in America as A Letter in the Scroll )
  • 2002: The Dignity of Difference. How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations
  • 2003: The Chief Rabbi's Haggadah
  • 2007: How we can still avoid the war of civilizations
  • 2005: To Heal a Fractured World - The Ethics of Responsibility
  • 2007: The Home We Build Together - Recreating Society
  • 2009: The Koren Sacks Siddur
  • 2009: Covenant & Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible
  • 2011: The Great Partnership - Science, Religion and the Search for Meaning
  • 2015: Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence
  • 2015: Lessons in Leadership; A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible
  • 2016: Essays on Ethics: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Syfrig Fongione: Seven honorary doctorates at the Dies Academicus of the University of Basel as part of the 550 year celebrations. Press release from the University of Basel. In: Information Service Science . November 26, 2010, accessed November 8, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Justin Cohen: Lord Sacks: the full interview. In: The Jewish News . August 22, 2013, accessed November 8, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Sacks, Jonathan, Baron Sacks
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sacks, Jonathan Henry, Baron Sacks; Sacks, Jonathan; Zvi, Yaakov (Hebrew name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British Grand Rabbi and politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH November 7, 2020