O pinion
Editorial Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, z’l
BY MID-ATLANTIC MEDIA EDITORIAL
BOARD RABBI JONATHAN SACKS
exemplified the best of Modern
Orthodoxy. Erudite, person-
able, a prolific writer, a beloved
teacher and a public intellec-
tual, Sacks moved comfortably
in the Jewish community and
in the larger world. He began
his career as a congregational
rabbi in London, served as
Britain’s chief rabbi, and then
devoted the remainder of his
public life as a scholar, teacher
and public speaker. He passed
away last Shabbat, at age 72.

American Jews became
familiar with Sacks through
his writings, frequent speaking
appearances, and through his
teaching at Yeshiva University
and New York University,
where he held endowed chairs.

In Britain, he held the post of
chief rabbi from 1991 to 2013.

Queen Elizabeth made him
a lifetime peer in 2009. And
he shared his views on Jewish
values in a regular column in
The Times newspaper and in
his popular Thought for the
Day on BBC Radio.

Sacks authored 25 books.

His most recent, “Morality:
Restoring the Common
Good in Divided Times,” was
published in September. “He
was an outspoken advocate
of religious and social toler-
ance throughout his career,”
the Times of Israel wrote. “He
was also an advocate for the
compatibility of science and
religion, which some people
see as mutually exclusive.”
Throughout his career,
Sacks was recognized as a
gifted orator, who was careful
not to mix religion and politics.

But in a 2017 TED Talk about
“facing the future without
fear” and what he called a
“fateful moment” in Western
history, he gained even more
of a following for what was
understood to be concern
expressed after the election
of Donald Trump as the U.S.

president. In September of this
year, when some haredi rabbis
published endorsements in the
U.S. presidential race, Sacks
was critical, and called the
blurring of the line between
politics and Judaism, “a big,
big, big mistake. You mix
religion and politics, you get
terrible politics and even worse
religion,” he said.

Yet he did take very
public stances on Israel and
anti-Semitism. “We have an
anti-Semite as the leader of the
Labour Party and her majes-
ty’s opposition,” Sacks said in
2018 during an interview with
the New Statesman. “That is
why Jews feel so threatened
by Mr. Corbyn and those who
support him.” And in a You
Tube video in 2017, Sacks
called anti-Zionism a new
form of anti-Semitism, and an
effort to deny Jews the “right
to exist collectively with the
same rights as everyone else.”
Those and similar comments
were well publicized because
of his popularity and reach to
mainstream audiences.

Israeli President Reuven
Rivlin said Sacks “bravely
faced difficult questions and
always found the right words
to illuminate the Torah and
explain its paths. We will
always remember his warnings
against violence in the name
of God, and his belief that
we have the power to heal a
fractured world.”
May his memory be for a
blessing. l
our respective homes — he was
from Philadelphia, and I am
a lifelong Baltimorean — but
feeling very much at home in
Jerusalem. My involvement in
Israel Bonds leadership steadily
grew, as I applied the lessons I
had learned from Sam, Alice
Peerce and so many other of
the greats I had been studying.

It was a time when, despite
significant progress, women
were still locked out of oppor-
tunities and barred from
leadership roles across the
board, whether implicitly or
explicitly. I was determined
to change that. Together
with countless other women
in sectors across society —
business, education, politics,
you name it — I began asserting
myself more, not waiting for
opportunities to be handed to
me but seizing them when they
arose. This is how I became the
first woman national chair of
Israel Bonds in the late 1990s,
responsible for driving outreach
and support for Israel Bonds. It
was a mission that I took with
the utmost seriousness.

Together with my friends
and colleagues in the Bonds
organization, we found new and
exciting ways to get the word
out and bring supporters in.

This included holding a Bonds
event in Palm Beach, Florida,
where the iconic Shimon Peres
spoke — his first-ever appear-
ance there — as well as an
event honoring the Holocaust
survivors of Schindler’s List
that featured Steven Spielberg
and Elie Wiesel. Between these
and countless other initiatives,
we found success in reaching
investors while I personally
had the opportunity to become
close with the greats that I have
spent my life emulating.

Perhaps nowhere was this
more meaningful to me than
when I found myself, some
years ago, having tea at former
Prime Minister Golda Meir’s
house in Israel. Retired from
public office, Meir hosted
several of us at her home, where
Mid-Atlantic Media’s editorial board
is composed of media owners and
journalists from Washington, D.C.,
Maryland and Philadelphia.

Lifelong Lessons for Israel’s Future
BY SUSAN WEIKERS
FOR ME, involvement with the
state of Israel was prenatal. Even
before I was born, right around
the time of Israel’s founding, my
family was involved in raising
funds and support for the
Jewish state in its infancy. My
father — who left Germany, but
whose family lost many in the
Holocaust — purchased some of
the earliest Israel bonds, deter-
mined that our family should
do its part in helping to protect
and preserve the homeland that
so many had fought for. It is a
calling that I have carried with
me my entire life.

Growing up, all of the adults
16 NOVEMBER 12, 2020
around me were involved in the
cause, and I remember distinctly
hearing from them about “the
greats” — people like Prime
Ministers David Ben-Gurion
and Menachem Begin — who
were instrumental in Israel’s
history from its earliest and most
turbulent years. The Israel Bonds
leaders who I met knew the
greats firsthand, and through
their stories, I felt like I knew
them, too. I always felt that I was
in the right place at the right
time. Hearing their thoughts
and learning about their experi-
ences imbued me from an early
age with the desire to have just
as great an impact through my
own involvement.

I got my start early. After
becoming involved with
Development Corporation
for Israel/Israel Bonds — the
organization that generates
investment in the Jewish state
— I can remember early rallies
and events, where speakers
would go around the room
“card-calling” to get attendees
to announce investments in
bonds. There I saw that it is not
enough to merely show your
own support for Israel, it is
also critical to take the lead in
encouraging others to support
Israel as well.

It was around this time
that I met Sam Rothberg,
legendary businessman and
philanthropist, and one of the
greats in his own right. Sam
and other leaders took me
under their wing, mentoring
me in politics, leadership and
the difficult but essential work
of generating support for and
investment in the Jewish state.

For a woman in her twenties,
it was the opportunity of a
lifetime to benefit from their
knowledge and experience,
and to be guided by their kind
spirit. One day, I thought, I can
pass this same wisdom on to
the next generation. I can be
someone else’s Sam Rothberg.

Over the years since then, I
have been to Israel more than
100 times. I met my husband
there, through Israel Bonds,
thousands of miles away from
JEWISH EXPONENT
See Weikers, Page 17
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM