[[Image:Sir Jonathan Sacks (small).jpg|right]]

'''Sir Jonathan Henry Sacks''' (born 1948, London) is the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom's main body of Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox synagogues. His official title is ''Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth''.

As well as the spiritual head of the United Synagogue, the largest synagogue body in the UK, he is the Chief Rabbi of most orthodox synagogues, but not the formal religious authority for the Federation of Synagogues or most of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations. However, he is recognised by the majority of orthodox synagogues throughout the Commonwealth, hence his formal title. In addition the vast majority of UK Jews recognise his wider role as a spokesperson and ambassador for the Jewish community. Sacks is also still recognised as the Chief Rabbi of the Hong Kong Jewish community, a role he was asked to retain after Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule.

==Biography==

Rabbi Sacks heads the ''Chief Rabbi's Cabinet'' [http://www.chiefrabbi.org/ra-index.html] consisting of over twenty other rabbis who advise him on a number of areas, such as Torah study|Jewish education, Israel, Jewish views of religious pluralism|Jewish-Christian relations, matters relating to the Beth Din (Jewish "religious court"), and several other areas of concern to the Jewish community.

Rabbi Sacks had been Principal (university)|Principal of Jews' College, London, the world's oldest rabbinical seminary, as well as rabbi of the Golders Green (1978-1982|82) and Marble Arch (1983-1990|90) Synagogues in London. He gained Semicha|rabbinic ordination from Jews' College as well as from London's Yeshivat Etz Chaim (London)|Yeshivat Etz Chaim (a yeshiva).

Rabbi Sacks studied philosophy and obtained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of: University of Cambridge|Cambridge; University of Glasgow|Glasgow; University of Haifa|Haifa; Middlesex University|Middlesex; Yeshiva University; University of Liverpool|Liverpool and University of St Andrews|St. Andrews, and is an honorary fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge|Gonville and Caius and King's College London.

In September 2001, the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred on him a Doctor of Divinity|doctorate of divinity in recognition of his first ten years in the Chief Rabbinate of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Rabbi Sacks provoked considerable controversy in the Anglo-Jewish community when he refused to attend the funeral service of the late Reform Judaism|Reform Rabbi Hugo Gryn and a private letter he had written in Hebrew language|Hebrew, which some people suggested in translation claimed that Reform Jews are "dividers of the faith", was leaked and published. He rejected demands that he should resign for these comments, claiming to have been using Rabbinic literature|rabbinical terminology. He did attend a memorial meeting for Rabbi Gryn.

More recently Sacks has been praised for building positive relationships with the Progressive community and notably is the first Chief Rabbi to sit with a Reform Rabbi as a joint President of the Council of Christians and Jews.

In 2004, his book "The Dignity of Difference" was awarded the Grawemeyer Award for Religion.

Rabbi Sacks was knighted in 2005.

Also in 2005, Rabbi Sacks visited the Jewish student organization at the University of Cambridge, appearing as a guest of Samuel Green (rapper)|Samuel Green on the student radio show Kol Cambridge and taking call-ins.

He was made an Honorary Freeman of the London Borough of Barnet in September 2006.

==Education==

Rabbi Sacks was educated at St Mary's Primary School and Christ's College Finchley, Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge (MA), New College, Oxford, University of London (PhD), Jews' College London and Yeshivat Etz Hayyim London.

==Current positions==

#Rabbi and Spiritual Leader, Western Marble Arch Synagogue, London (since May 1, 2004).

#Immanuel Jakobovits|Jakobovits Professor in modern Jewish thought, Jews' College London, 1982.

#Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth (since 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 held==

#Lecturer in moral philosophy, Middlesex University|Middlesex Polytechnic, 1971-1973|3.

#Lecturer, Jews' College London, 1973-1982; director of its rabbinic facility, 1983-1990|90; Principal, 1984-90.

#Visiting professor of philosophy at the University of Essex, 1989-90.

#Sherman lecturer at the University of Manchester, 1989.

#Riddell lecturer at the Newcastle University|University of Newcastle.

#Cook lecturer at the University of Oxford, University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews.

#Visiting professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The Chief Rabbi is also a frequent guest on both television and radio, and regularly contributes to the national press. He delivered the 1990 BBC Reith Lectures on ''The Persistence of Faith''.

==View on Noahides==

:R.Yochanan asked: What is implied in "The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those that published it" (Ps. 68:12)? That each and every word that issued from the mouth of the Almighty divided itself into seventy languages. Accordingly, citing the verse "As a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces" (Jer. 23: 29), the school of R. Ishmael taught: Just as a hammer that strikes a rock causes sparks to fly off in all directions, so each and every word that issued from the mouth of the Holy One divided itself into seventy languages.<ref>B. T. Shabbat 88b R.Yochanan asked: What is implied in ‘The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those that published it’ (Ps. 68:12)? That each and every word that issued from the mouth of the Almighty divided itself into seventy languages. Accordingly, citing the verse “As a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces” (Jer. 23: 29), the school of R. Ishmael taught: Just as a hammer that strikes a rock causes sparks to fly off in all directions, so each and every word that issued from the mouth of the Holy One divided itself into seventy languages.”</ref>

The Torah, according to the sages, was addressed to humanity as a whole. Those who wished to convert, could do so. However, the sages did not seek converts<ref>There were exceptions. During the reign of John Hyrcanus (133-104 B.C.E.), the [[Idumeans ]] or [[Edomites ]] were conquered and forced to convert. It seems, however, that experience taught Jews not to repeat this endeavour. Besides which, as I have argued, it runs contrary to the central strand of biblical and post-biblical Judaic principle.</ref>. Indeed, they sought to discourage them. According to a statement in the Talmud, the prospective convert was told: "Do you not know that Israel [= the Jewish people] at the present time are persecuted and oppressed, despised, harassed and overcome by afflictions?"<ref>B.T. Yevamot 47a.</ref>

Instead, they were encouraged to keep the Noahide laws. The historical evidence suggests that prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, throughout the Roman empire there were many individuals who adopted at least some Jewish practices: semi-converts or "G-d-fearers" as they were known. Josephus, writing in the first century C.E., says that "There is not one city, Greek or barbarian, nor a single nation where the custom of the seventh day, on which we rest from all work, and the fasts, and the lighting of candles, are not observed . . . and as G-d permeates the universe, so the Law has found its way into the hearts of all men."<ref>Against Apion, 2:282ff.</ref> It is likely that it was among these people, Christianity first took root when, under the influence of Paul, the new faith ceased to be a Jewish sect and instead turned its attention to the gentiles.

:Our nation, the children of Israel, is a nation only by virtue of its laws. Since, then, the Creator has stated that the Jewish nation was destined to exist as long as heaven and earth exist, its laws would, of necessity, have to endure as long as would heaven and earth.<ref>Saadia Gaon, Emunot veDe'ot, Book III:7</ref>

An eternal covenant links the eternal people to the eternal G-d. This idea is not merely fundamental to Judaism. It shapes the very meaning of the words truth (emet), faithfulness (emunah) and covenant (brit) when applied to G-d. It means that G-d, having made a covenant with the patriarchs (brit avot) and then with the children of Israel as a nation (brit Sinai), will be true to His word. He will not break it, terminate it, or replace it. In the language of the prophets, in the marriage between G-d and Israel there will be no divorce. A G-d who could abandon His people is unthinkable to the biblical mind. That is why, to a Jew, the [[replacement theology ]] of classical Christianity and Islam is untenable as an interpretation of the Hebrew Bible.

What is significant about Christianity and Islam is that these faiths, from a Jewish perspective<ref>Rabbinic tradition makes the equation Esau=[[Edom]]=Rome=Christianity, and Ishmael=Islam (this is how the Koran also traces its ancestry). Thus, both are descendants of Abraham. This may be the meaning of the verse (otherwise unexplained in the Bible), "No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of many nations" (Gen. 17:5). To be sure, the Hebrew Bible itself does not make this connection, since both Christianity and Islam were born in the post-biblical era. Nor do any of the traditional Jewish commentators known to me offer this interpretation (undoubtedly because the Torah itself says - Gen. 21: 12 - "Through Isaac [alone] you will be said to have offspring"). Yet there is an apparent contradiction between Genesis and Deuteronomy. In Genesis, God makes the promise to Abraham that his descendants will be as many as "the dust of the earth" and "the stars of the sky"; yet in Deuteronomy, Moses says, "The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you are the fewest of all peoples" (Deut. 7:7). One way of resolving this is to make a distinction between the children of the specific covenant of Abraham through Israel ("the fewest of all peoples") and the other Abrahamic faiths, which trace their ancestry to Abraham and today account for more than half of the population of the earth. In this broader sense Abraham is indeed "the father of many nations".</ref> and from their own, trace their provenance to the biblical covenants with Noah and Abraham. That is why they are known as "Abrahamic faiths". Insofar as [a] they are religions of revelation, [b] they "recognize the authority of the Hebrew Bible as the word of G-d to humankind"<ref>John Haldane, An Intelligent Person's Guide to Religion, London, Duckworth, 2003 (writing of all three Abrahamic faiths).</ref> and [c] they uphold the Noahide laws, their adherents satisfy Maimonides' definition of the pious of the nations, namely that they keep the seven Noahide laws "because the Holy One blessed be He commanded them in the Torah and made known through Moses our teacher that their observance had been enjoined on the descendants of Noah even before the Torah was given." At Sinai, as well as making a covenant with the children of Israel, G-d reaffirmed His earlier covenant with mankind.

The following are some of the rabbinic sources on Christianity and Islam:

:The writers of the Gospels never meant to say that the Nazarene came to abolish Judaism, but only that he came to establish a new religion for the Gentiles from that time onward. Nor was it new, but actually ancient; they being the Seven commandments of the sons of Noah, which were forgotten. The Apostles of the Nazarene established them anew . . . It is therefore a habitual saying of mine . . . that the Nazarene brought about a double kindness in the world. On the one hand, he strengthened the Torah of Moses majestically, as mentioned earlier, and not one of our sages spoke out more emphatically concerning the immutability of the Torah. And on the other hand he did much good for the gentiles . . . by doing away with idolatry and removing the images from their midst. He obligated them with the seven commandments . . . and also bestowed on them ethical ways, and in this respect he was much more stringent with them than the Torah of Moses, as is well known.<ref>Rabbi Yaakov Emden, [[Yaakov_Emden_on_Noahides#Rabbi_Jacob_Emden.27s_Letter_.28Seder_Olam_Rabbah_Vezuta.29|Seder Olam Rabbah ve-Zuta]], Appendix. Translation, H. Falk, Journal of Ecumenical Studies, 19:1 [Winter 1982], 105-111).</ref>

Citing Acts 15, Emden argues that the founders of Christianity were not engaged in creating a new religion but rather bringing the Noahide covenant and its seven laws to the gentiles. That is why they did not require their followers to observe the Sabbath or the command of circumcision (which do not apply to non-Jews). Only later did Christians (mistakenly, Emden argues) see their faith as a rival to and [[Replacement theology|replacement ]] of Judaism. Emden urges Christians to go back to their own first principles. If they did so they would "bring their people to love the ancient Children of Israel who remain loyal to their G-d, as indeed commanded to Christians by their original teachers."

Summing up the mainstream Jewish position, R. Samson Raphael Hirsch writes:

[http://www.chiefrabbi.org/dd/views.html Source]

==Books by Jonathan Sacks==

#''Traditional alternatives: Orthodoxy and the future of the Jewish people'' (1989)

#''Tradition in an Untraditional Age'' (1990)

#''Persistence of Faith'' (1991)

#''Arguments for the Sake of Heaven'' (1991)

#''Crisis and Covenant'' (1992)

#''One People?'' (1993)

#''Will We Have Jewish Grandchildren?'' (1994)

#''Community of Faith'' (1995)

#''Torah Studies: Discourses by [[Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson]]'' (1996)

#''The Politics of Hope'' (1997 revised 2nd edition 2000)

#''Morals and Markets'' (1999)

#''Celebrating Life'' (2000)

#''Radical Then, Radical Now'' (published in America as ''A Letter in the Scroll'') (2001)

#''Dignity of Difference'' (2002) ([[Grawemeyer Award]] winner)

#''The Chief Rabbi's Haggadah'' (2003)

#''To Heal a Fractured World - The Ethics of Responsibility'' (2005)

==External links==

*[http://www.chiefrabbi.org/ra-index.html About Rabbi Sacks]

*[http://www.chiefrabbi.org/history-index.html History of the position]

*[http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword.asp?kid=194 Articles written by Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks for chabad.org]

*[http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=110248 Torah Studies by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks; From the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe]

*[http://www.cceia.org/resources/transcripts/928.html Rabbi Sacks discusses, ''The Dignity of Difference,''] at the [[Carnegie Council]].

==Footnotes==

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