Jonathan Sacks
Jonathan Sacks
Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks, Ktis a British rabbi, philosopher and scholar of Judaism...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionClergyman
Date of Birth8 March 1948
independent israel culture-religion
Israel is a democratic state with an independent judiciary, a free press and a diverse population of many cultures, religions and creeds.
religious drama imagination
The Jewish festival of freedom is the oldest continuously observed religious ritual in the world. Across the centuries, Passover has never lost its power to inspire the imagination of successive generations of Jews with its annually re-enacted drama of slavery and liberation.
emotional purpose excess
We are biological creatures. We are born, we live, we die. There is no transcendent purpose to existence. At best we are creatures of reason, and by using reason we can cure ourselves of emotional excess. Purged of both hope and fear, we find courage in the face of helplessness, insignificance and uncertainty.
levels high-level activity
A society in which there are high levels of voluntary activity will simply be a better, happier place than one where there are not.
prayer book self
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holy of holies of Jewish time. It is that rarest of phenomena, a Jewish festival without food. Instead it is a day of fasting and prayer, introspection and self-judgment when, collectively and repeatedly, we confess our sins and pray to be written into God's Book of Life.
law rights justice
True freedom requires the rule of law and justice, and a judicial system in which the rights of some are not secured by the denial of rights to others.
differences tolerance world
God has given us many faiths but only one world in which to co-exist. May your work help all of us to cherish our commonalities and feel enlarged by our differences.
faith religious past
The faith religious believers have in God is small compared to the faith people put in politicians, knowing how many times they have been disappointed in the past but still insisting that this time it will be different.
play long mind
Values are tapes we play on the Walkman of the mind: any tune we choose so long as it does not disturb others.
envy people deeds
Find people not to envy but to admire. Do not the profitable but the admirable deed. Live by ideals.
passion wealth lifetime
Follow your passion. Nothing - not wealth, success, accolades or fame - is worth spending a lifetime doing things you don't enjoy.
teacher children hero
Freedom begins with what we teach our children. That is why Jews became a people whose passion is education, whose heroes are teachers and whose citadels are schools.
differences world feels
In our interconnected world, we must learn to feel enlarged, not threatened, by difference - that is what I have argued.
phenomenon islamophobia complexes
Islamophobia is a complex phenomenon.