Published: 30 July 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
I’VE NEVER MET Jonathan Sacks. But his writing has had a deeper impact on my life than any other rabbi. I first came across it in a London synagogue in November 2010. Stapled together was Sacks’s commentary on the week’s Torah portion, Parshat Vayetzei, in which Jacob — after tricking his brother and father — flees to the house of his uncle.
In his commentary, Sacks compares Jacob to the character of Br’er Rabbit. “Using their intelligence to outwit their stronger opponents” both “are able to deconstruct and subvert, in small ways, the hierarchy of dominance favouring the rich and the strong. They represent the momentary freedom of the unfree, a protest against the random injustices of the world.”
I still remember my wonder upon reading those words. For an Orthodox rabbi to read African-American literary theory is unusual enough. For a rabbi to use it to interpret a biblical patriarch is astonishing.
Since that day, Sacks’ words have been a constant presence in my life. Friends joke about my love of Jonathan Sacks. But to me, it’s serious. I’ve never encountered a rabbi who combines such eloquence, breadth of worldly knowledge, depth of Jewish knowledge and insight into the struggle to live a good life.
FULL STORY Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has abdicated his moral responsibility (Forward)
Photo: Courtesy RabbiSacks.org
