Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

There has long been a massive debate in Anglo Jewry as to whether we should take a unified stance in our support for the State of Israel or openly air our differences. It’s mostly been a noisy and shrill debate, but it’s the wrong debate – as it is deflecting us from the real issue.

Three moments, sharing the same message, made a deep impression on me: Greatness is humility.

God’s “name” is therefore His standing in the world. Do people acknowledge Him, respect Him, honor Him?

The family had reached deadlock.

The Jewish people had universal compulsory education 18 centuries before England did.

Despite the Divine anger, the people were not condemned to permanent exile. They simply had to face the fact that their children would achieve what they themselves were not ready for.

Issues of the heart

Politics involves difficult judgments. A leader must balance competing claims and will sometimes get it wrong.

This week's parshah inspired the Jubilee 2000 initiative leading to debt cancellation of $34 biilion

Sukkot is the most universalistic of all festivals. At the same time, however, it is the most particularist of festivals. When we sit in the sukkah, we recall Jewish history

Leadership, even of the very highest order, is often marked by failure.

Judaism believes it’s a religious duty to teach our children to ask questions.

The Jewish people mourned and wept, and then rose up and built the future. This is their unique strength and it came from Abraham, as we see in this week’s parsha.

There are times when each of us has to decide, not just “What shall I do?” but “What kind of person shall I be?”

In Judaism, to be without questions is a sign not of faith, but of lack of depth.

At the center of the mosaic books is Vayikra. At the center of Vayikra is the “holiness code” (chapter 19) with its momentous call: “You shall be holy because I, the Lord your G-d, am holy.” And at the centre of chapter 19 is a brief paragraph which, by its positioning, is the apex, the high point, of the Torah:

In parshat Tetzaveh, for once Moses, the hero, the leader, the liberator, the lawgiver, is offstage. Instead our focus is on his elder brother Aaron who, elsewhere, is often in the background.

The Torah is telling us something very powerful. Never think of people as things. Never think of people as types: they are individuals. Never be content with creating systems: care also about relationships.

Joseph reframed his entire past, now understanding himself charged with a life-saving mission by God

Says the Torah: When love is likely to be the cause of conflict, it must take second place to justice.

All human authority needs checks and balances if it is to remain uncorrupted. In particular, political and religious leadership, keter malchut and keter kehunah, should never be combined.

There is something profoundly spiritual about listening-shema. It is the most effective form of conflict resolution I know.

Hidden beneath the surface of Parshat Chayei Sarah, for example, is another story, alluded to only in a series of hints. Here are three clues in the text...

In this exchange between two brothers, a momentous courage is born: the courage of an Aharon who has the strength to grieve and not accept any easy consolation, and the courage of a Moshe who has the strength to keep going in spite of grief.

Reflections from Rabbi Sacks’ following his first visit to Auschwitz in 1995

As music connects note to note, so faith connects episode to episode, life to life, age to age in a timeless melody that breaks into time.

Wishing you a Tzom kal (an easy fast)

The well-being of the soul is something inward and spiritual, but the well-being of the body requires a strong society and economy, where there is the rule of law, division of labor, and the promotion of trade.

Moses intervenes on Miriam’s behalf with simple eloquence in the shortest prayer on record with five words: ‘Please, G-d, heal her now.’

We became the people whose heroes were teachers, whose citadels were schools, and whose passion was learning and the life of the mind. The end result was that Judaism did survive and thrive throughout the centuries, whereas Ancient Greece … declined.