O pinion
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Was the Last of His Kind
BY RABBI RAPHAEL ZARUM
RABBI LORD JONATHAN
Sacks, who passed away on Nov.

7, 2020, left a legacy that is well
known: As chief rabbi of the
United Hebrew Congregations
of the British Commonwealth,
he led a renewal of vibrant
Jewish life through the growth
of Jewish schools and the revital-
ization of the London School of
Jewish Studies; delivered erudite
speeches, books and articles that
inspired the United Synagogue
and beyond by advocating
a realistic, modern and yet
uncompromisingly faithful view
of traditional Orthodoxy; and
served as a public intellectual
whose wisdom was sought by
politicians, academics, CEOs
and other faith leaders around
the globe.

But can his contribution
to modern Jewish thought
be easily summarized? As a
dedicated disciple, I would
never even attempt such
a thing. But I can offer this.

The colloquial term for a
leading rabbinic sage is gadol,
meaning, simply, “great.” With
the rise of ultra-Orthodoxy,
the word today evokes aged
men garbed in monochrome,
surrounded by devotees and
making pronouncements from
their insular enclaves. But the
intricate discussions of Jewish
law of which these men are
experts were described by
Maimonides, the 12th-century
scholar, as a dvar katan (small
matter), reserving the phrase
dvar gadol (great matter) for
discussions of the nature and
purpose of Creation.

A scholar must, Maimonides
insisted, master the small
before the great, for if the
former makes up the frame-
work of everyday Jewish life, it
is the latter that establishes the
ultimate value and meaning
of existence — what we would
call philosophy.

The title “gadol” should be
reserved for a rabbinic scholar
who is not only steeped in
Jewish law, but also able to
understand and address the
deep questions of life: Why are
we here? What is our purpose?
How can we make a difference?
A true gadol can speak to the
religiously minded as well as
to those of little or no faith.

A gadol can translate ancient
Jewish wisdom into contem-
porary insight and realistic
policy. To my mind, only Rabbi
Sacks has earned the title of
gadol in recent times.

Rabbis today, like the clergy
of other religions, have been
compartmentalized as the
leaders of the faithful only,
with little to say in the public
square. The sad result is that
many rabbis now perceive
themselves in this limited way
too. But Rabbi Sacks always
championed “a Judaism
engaged with the world.” He
was able to speak to all people,
using a language anyone could
understand and that could
move them to action. He was
at home in the beit midrash,
the Jewish house of study, and
in the academy, but he learned
to be most at home in the
community. Toward the end
of “Morality,” his final book,
he writes:
“I had the privilege of
studying with some of the
greatest philosophers of
our time, yet I learned more
about morality in my years as
a congregational rabbi than I
did at Oxford and Cambridge,
and I did so by conducting
funerals. “As a young rabbi in an
aging congregation, I often did
not know the deceased person-
ally, so I had to ask relatives
and friends what they were
like and what they would be
remembered for. No one ever
spoke about the clothes they
wore or the cars they drove,
the homes they lived in or the
holidays they took. They spoke
about their role in their family,
their place in the congrega-
tion and its activities, the good
deeds they did, the causes they
supported, the voluntary work
they undertook and the people
they helped. It is not what we
do for ourselves but what we
give others that is our epitaph
and that ultimately floods life
with meaning.”
The loss of Rabbi Sacks is
felt most acutely by British Jews
proud that such a great thinker
and rabbi emerged from their
ranks. Yet his influence spread
across the oceans to the entire
Jewish world, and well beyond
the Jewish community. He
began as a rabbi in a small
synagogue, then he became the
chief rabbi of Anglo-Jewry and,
in his later years, a rabbi to
global Jewry as well as to some
of the most influential people,
both Jewish and non-Jewish,
on the planet.

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JEWISHEXPONENT.COM JEWISH EXPONENT
I am not fond of hyperbole,
but I honestly wonder if we will
ever see his kind again. He was
a genuine gadol, a Jewish voice
heard by all, a rabbi in the
widest sense of the term.

But he is not the last true
rabbi, because of the other
great focus of his life: leader-
ship and empowerment. I am
just one of thousands of men
and women for whom he is a
crucial inspiration, who have
built their leadership upon his
principles. His many books line
our shelves, and his deep belief
in us compels us to continue
his legacy.

No one can fill his shoes,
but I am sure he would prefer
that we fill our own. He would
always say, “Education is not
what we do, it is who we are.”
Rabbi Sacks was not the last
true rabbi, precisely because he
was a true rabbi to the last. l
Rabbi Raphael Zarum is the dean
of the London School of Jewish
Studies, where he trains teachers
and lectures in modern Jewish
thought. This article is adapted
from “The Last Rabbi,” an essay in
The Jewish Quarterly, Issue 246,
Nov. 2021, and is used here with
permission. KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
Non-white Jews Often Overlooked
I APPRECIATED MANISHTANA’S PIECE, “The ‘Jewface’
Debate About Casting Non-Jews as Jews Betrays an Ashkenazi
Bias” (Oct. 21), which sheds light on Ashkenormativity.

Ashkenazic Jews tend to forget that there are many Jews in the
world who are not white.

I’m a playwright, and when my play, “A Modest Suggestion,”
opened in New York, one critic asked why we didn’t cast a Jew in
the Jewish role. The role was, in fact, played by a Jew of Middle
Eastern descent.

I’m a Yemenite Jew, and I can’t tell you how many family
functions I’ve attended in which relatives turn to my Ashkenazic
wife and ask if I’m Jewish, even though I’m typically a more
observant Jew than the person asking. I’ve also had many
horrible experiences of walking into an Ashkenazic shul holding
a tallis bag, only to be asked by security, “Can I help you?”
Ashkenazic Jews would do well to remember that Judaism was
not born in Europe, and their white skin makes the authenticity
of their Jewishness just as dubious as anyone else’s.

Ken Kaissar | Yardley
Not So Fast
Manishtana’s piece on the “Jewface” debate (“The ‘Jewface’
Debate About Casting Non-Jews as Jews Betrays an Ashkenazi
Bias,” Oct. 21) quoted comedienne Sarah Silverman as saying: “if
the Jewish character (portrayed in a Hollywood film) is coura-
geous or deserves love, she is never played by a Jew. Ever!”
Not quite.

The actress Rachel Weisz, who is Jewish and whose parents
are both Jewish, portrayed Emory Professor Deborah Lipstadt
in the 2016 award-winning film “Denial.” In the film, Lipstadt,
who had courageously singled out David Irving as a “dangerous
spokesperson for Holocaust denial” in her 1993 book “Holocaust
Denial,” successfully defends herself in a trial against Irving’s
accusations of libel and defamation. l
Jerry Stern | Merion Station
NOVEMBER 4, 2021
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