Rabbi Sacks and the Community We Built Together

Author: United Synagogue
Publisher: Vallentine Mitchell
ISBN: 9781909004160
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
Family and colleagues of Rabbi Lord Sacks have produced a book of many original articles, stories and Torah teaching to pay tribute to his impact as Chief Rabbi and perpetuate that legacy - the community we built together. Containing a Foreword from Lady Sacks, Introduction from Chief Rabbi Mirvis, recollections from Rabbi Sacks' family and contributions from the Dayanim of the London Beth Din, the book has 7 chapters: Chapter 1 contains Divrei Torah, building on themes in Rabbi Sacks' writing and teaching about Judaism. 2 focuses on his central principles of leadership, education and outlook as Chief Rabbi. 3 concentrates on his prodigious literary output as Chief Rabbi. 4 celebrates him as a master storyteller, sharing both stories he told and stories which the authors experienced with him. 5 draws on his booklets, Letter to the Next Generation 1 & 2 and A Judaism Engaged With the World. Rabbis who were part of the 'next generation' then give contemporary responses to his points. 6 contains recollections from people who worked closely with him over many years and 7 is a compilation of some of his most significant writings about the Jewish community and Judaism during his tenure.

The Home We Build Together

Author: Jonathan Sacks
Publisher: Bloomsbury Continuum
ISBN: 0826423493
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
The Chief Rabbi's thesis on the future of British society and the dangers facing liberal democracy. A counterweight to his earlier book, The Dignity of Difference, Sacks makes the case for "integrated diversity" within a framework of shared political values.

Covenant and Conversation

Author: Jonathan Sacks
Publisher: Maggid
ISBN: 9781592640218
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
In this second volume of his long-anticipated five-volume collection of parashat hashavua commentaries, Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks explores these intersections as they relate to universal concerns of freedom, love, responsibility, identity, and destiny. Chief Rabbi Sacks fuses Jewish tradition, Western philosophy, and literature to present a highly developed understanding of the human condition under Gods sovereignty. Erudite and eloquent, Covenant Conversation allows us to experience Chief Rabbi Sacks sophisticated approach to life lived in an ongoing dialogue with the Torah.

A Letter in the Scroll

Author: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9780743267427
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Book Description
The author traces series of philosophical and theological ideas that Judaism has created and shows how they are still relevant in our time.

Not in God's Name

Author: Jonathan Sacks
Publisher: Schocken
ISBN: 0805243356
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Book Description
***2015 National Jewish Book Award Winner*** In this powerful and timely book, one of the most admired and authoritative religious leaders of our time tackles the phenomenon of religious extremism and violence committed in the name of God. If religion is perceived as being part of the problem, Rabbi Sacks argues, then it must also form part of the solution. When religion becomes a zero-sum conceit—that is, my religion is the only right path to God, therefore your religion is by definition wrong—and individuals are motivated by what Rabbi Sacks calls “altruistic evil,” violence between peoples of different beliefs appears to be the only natural outcome. But through an exploration of the roots of violence and its relationship to religion, and employing groundbreaking biblical analysis and interpretation, Rabbi Sacks shows that religiously inspired violence has as its source misreadings of biblical texts at the heart of all three Abrahamic faiths. By looking anew at the book of Genesis, with its foundational stories of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Rabbi Sacks offers a radical rereading of many of the Bible’s seminal stories of sibling rivalry: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, Rachel and Leah. “Abraham himself,” writes Rabbi Sacks, “sought to be a blessing to others regardless of their faith. That idea, ignored for many of the intervening centuries, remains the simplest definition of Abrahamic faith. It is not our task to conquer or convert the world or enforce uniformity of belief. It is our task to be a blessing to the world. The use of religion for political ends is not righteousness but idolatry . . . To invoke God to justify violence against the innocent is not an act of sanctity but of sacrilege.” Here is an eloquent call for people of goodwill from all faiths and none to stand together, confront the religious extremism that threatens to destroy us, and declare: Not in God’s Name.

The Politics of Hope

Author: Jonathan Sacks
Publisher: Vintage Books
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
A broad treatment of politics and society in Britain by the Chief Rabbi of the Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. Sacks proposes a new politics of responsibility in which all portions of society have a part to play - a politics not of interest but of involvement - and hope.

Community of Faith

Author: Jonathan Sacks
Publisher: Halban
ISBN: 1905559666
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 145

Book Description
Chief Rabbi Emeritus Lord Jonathan Sacks evaluates of the role of the synagogue in Jewish life today. In it he explores the choices faced by religious leadership in the modern world, and the ways in which the synagogue embodies a living community of faith. His book Faith in the Future, described by The Times as 'one of the most significant declarations made by a religious leader in this country for many years', analysed the importance of community, morality and faith in the future of Western societies. Community of Faith applies these themes to the Jewish situation, and suggests ways in which the synagogue can be renewed as a centre of meaning and belonging.

Faith in the Future

Author: Jonathan Sacks
Publisher: Mercer University Press
ISBN: 9780865545502
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Book Description
Faith in the Future addresses some of the major themes of our time: the fragmentation of our common culture, the breakdown of family and community life, the lack of moral direction, and the waning of religious belief. How, Sacks asks, can we construct a humane social order that honors human dignity and difference, one in which we can be both true to ourselves and a blessing to others? In the confusing state of postindustrial societies in the post-Cold War situation, can we give those who come after us a coherent map of hope? In treating such questions, Faith in the Future is structured in four parts. In the first, The Moral Covenant, Sacks touches on the broadest of issues: morality, the family, and the importance of communities in the life of society. In the second, Living Together, he asks how we can co-exist while remaining faithful to our distinctive identities and traditions. In the third, Jewish Ethics and Spirituality, he sketches some of Judaism's leading themes. There is such a thing, says, as an ecology of hope, and it lies in restoring to our culture a sense of family, community, and religious faith.

The Dignity of Difference

Author: Jonathan Sacks
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 9780826414434
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Book Description
2001 began as the United Nations Year of Dialogue between Civilizations. By its end the phrase most widely quoted was "the clash of civilizations." The tragedy of September 11 intensified the danger posed by religious differences throughout the world. As the politics of identity replaces the politics of ideology, can religion overcome its conflict-ridden past and become a force for peace? The Dignity of Difference is Rabbi Johnathan Sack's radical proposal for reframing the terms of this important debate. The first major statement by a Jewish leader on the ethics of globalization, it introduces a new paradigm into the search for co-existence. Sacks argues that we must do more than search for common human values. We must also learn to make space for difference, even and especially at the heart of the monotheistic imagination. The global future will call for something stronger than earlier doctrines of toleration or pluralism. It needs a new understanding that the unity of the Creator is expressed in the diversity of creation.

The Great Partnership

Author: Jonathan Sacks
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 144470303X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 533

Book Description
Writing with his usual grace and fluency, Jonathan Sacks moves beyond the tired arguments of militant atheists such as Dawkins and Hitchens, to explore how religion has always played a valuable part in human culture and far from being dismissed as redundant, must be allowed to temper and develop scientific understanding in order for us to be fully human. Ranging around the world to draw comparisons from different cultures, and delving deep into the history of language and of western civilisation, Jonathan Sacks shows how the predominance of science-oriented thinking is embedded deeply even in our religious understanding, and calls on us to recognise the centrality of relationship to true religion, and thus to see how this core value of relationship is essential if we are to avoid the natural tendency for science to rule our lives rather than fulfilling its promise to set us free.