The Rebbe and the Chief Rabbi

This was wholly unexpected and life-changing. Here was one of the leaders of the Jewish world taking time—considerable time—to listen to an unknown undergraduate student from thousands of miles away and speak to him as if he mattered, as if he could make a difference.

—Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, 20141

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks frequently acknowledged2 the significant influence of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, on his precipitous journey: from a brilliant yet unassuming student of philosophy at Cambridge University to Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth—and his subsequent elevation to the role of respected Jewish thinker, moral philosopher, and educator to an indebted global audience.

This essay documents the circumstances that facilitated the unique interaction between Rabbi Sacks and the Rebbe and records Rabbi Sacks’s reflections on the Rebbe’s influence on his trajectory. Though Rabbi Sacks—with characteristic humility—referred to himself in his reflections as “an unknown undergraduate student,” the special guidance that he received from the Rebbe over several decades is indicative of the exceptional gifts of intellect, empathy, and leadership that Rabbi Sacks possessed.

Early Days: Cambridge and Lubavitch House

In the early 1960s, Dayan Isidor Grunfeld3 delivered a weekly Torah class in Stamford Hill, London, for teenagers from Orthodox homes.4 At that time, he approached Rabbi Faivish Vogel—the executive director of Lubavitch, Great Britain—for a copy of the newly published English-language Tanya,5 explaining that he wished to present it to one of his students who “has spiritual yearnings, and this is the only way I can satisfy him.” Dayan Grunfeld conveyed that the student was none other than a teenage Jonathan Sacks.6

The first formal contact between Rabbi Sacks and the Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Great Britain took place in early 1968. In his capacity as president of the Cambridge University Jewish Society,7 20-year-old Jonathan Sacks was contacted by Rabbi Shmuel Lew,8 an emissary of the Rebbe to Great Britain who was responsible for Chabad student and youth activities, with a view to organizing a shabbaton at Cambridge University on February 24 of that year. In the course of that shabbaton, Rabbi Sacks and the participating Cambridge students were introduced by the delegation9 to fundamental aspects of Chabad philosophy and Chabad melodies. Both of these aroused the keen interest of Jonathan Sacks, given his advanced study of philosophy at Cambridge10 and his deep appreciation of music.11 Rabbi Sacks subsequently wrote to Rabbi Lew that he had been very impressed by the shabbaton and was motivated to visit London, to further explore with both Rabbi Lew and Rabbi Vogel the concepts of Chabad philosophy to which he had been introduced at the Cambridge shabbaton.12 At this time, Rabbi Sacks was deeply captivated by the profundity of Chabad philosophy and particularly enthralled by Chabad niggunim or wordless melodies—at times joyous and ecstatic and often pensive and yearning—which were sung at the Shabbat tables of both Rabbi Lew and Rabbi Vogel.13 This relationship was cemented in the spring of 1968, when a special “Encounter with Habad” program for university students occurred as part of the dedication of Great Britain’s new Lubavitch Community Centre.14 The keynote address to this encounter with students was delivered by the guest scholar-in-residence Rabbi Zalman I. Posner,15 a noted American Chabad scholar handpicked for this event by the Rebbe. Following Rabbi Posner’s address, Rabbi Sacks rose to pose a very complex philosophical question that took fifteen minutes for him to enunciate. Humorously, Posner gave a one-word reply: “Yes.” The audience was stunned by Jonathan Sacks’s question, which revealed for the first time to a wide audience his profound intellectual acumen. At the conclusion of the event, Rabbi Posner and Rabbi Sacks engaged in a brief philosophical discussion.

1968: Visiting the USA

The same year, Jonathan Sacks undertook a trip to the USA to survey Jewish leadership and trends in American Jewry.16 To this end, he purchased a Greyhound “Student’s Ninety-Nine Days for $99” bus ticket, which provided unlimited travel within the USA. In the course of this assignment, he interviewed Jewish leaders, including the preeminent figure of American Modern Orthodoxy, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.17 Others he interviewed included Abraham Joshua Heschel, who was formally aligned with the Conservative Movement; leaders of Reform Jewry in Cincinnati; as well as “secular” leadership that included Nahum Goldmann.18 He presented a series of questions about leadership to all these leaders. In light of his prior encounters with Chabad in Great Britain, and because most of his interviewees recommended that he meet the Rebbe, he set his mind to arranging an interview with the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

On a Friday afternoon, Rabbi Sacks arrived unannounced at the office of the Rebbe’s secretariat in Brooklyn, seeking Shabbat accommodations. He was made aware that a private audience with the Rebbe was not immediately available but could be several weeks away. Fortuitously, visiting the same office at that time was a Chabad yeshiva student from Great Britain named Chaim Farro. Noting their shared English background, the Rebbe’s secretary, Rabbi Binyamin Klein, introduced them. Meanwhile, Farro invited Rabbi Sacks to reside at his dormitory19 for Shabbat and beyond, as Farro and several yeshiva students were soon leaving for Chabad’s summer Merkos Shlichus program where they would serve as “roving rabbis” visiting isolated Jewish communities over the summer months.20 Farro delegated the delivering of Torah talks over Shabbat to three London-born yeshiva students: Daniel Goldberg,21 Benjamin (Binyamin) Gabriel Cohen,22 and Yehudah Leib Ives.

Rabbi Goldberg recalled Sacks being exceptionally receptive to the Chassidic philosophy he was teaching him. Because he enjoyed the study so much, particularly the Chassidic philosophy, Rabbi Sacks decided to extend his stay in Crown Heights and postpone his travels in order to study more. Even after he resumed his travels, he was constantly awaiting confirmation of his meeting with the Rebbe for which he would return to New York. During this extended stay in Brooklyn, Rabbi Sacks continued to study Chassidic philosophy23 every weekday morning and evening with Daniel Goldberg; he was introduced to the study of Talmud by Rabbi Binyamin Cohen, and to halachic texts with Yehudah Leib Ives.

When it was time to resume his assessment of the American Jewish community, his Chabad “tutors” arranged for Chabad rabbis and academics to host him. Several of them specialized in philosophy, Rabbi Sacks’s area of interest and expertise.24 For example, during his visit to Montreal, he was hosted by Chabad’s Rabbi Herschel Feigelstock.25 In Toronto, he interacted with Chabad rabbi and professor of philosophy at Humber College, Rabbi Immanuel Schochet;26 and in London, Ontario, he stayed at the Chabad home of professor of philosophy, Dr. Yitzchak Block.27 Additionally, he traveled from Ontario to Detroit with Rabbi Yitschak Meir Kagan.28 On his return to New York, Rabbi Sacks constantly remarked to Goldberg just how impressed he had been by these individuals, particularly by the modesty of Professor Block.29 Rabbi Sacks also remarked to Goldberg that, having now studied early Chassidic texts, he had “discovered” the origins of many of the refreshing ideas so beautifully enunciated in the writings of Heschel.30

Sacks was particularly struck by the informal Chassidic farbrengens [gatherings] that he witnessed in Crown Heights, where a revered mashpia [mentor] would speak to legions of Chassidic teenagers who sat visibly enthralled by the mentor’s every word. Though unable to follow the intricacies of these highly nuanced Yiddish-language communications, Rabbi Sacks was amazed that they extended for several hours—and that an individual had so much content to deliver for such a duration that held the attention of his listeners over this time.31 In early July, Rabbi Faivish Vogel visited New York from London and informed Chabad residents that the unassuming young man they were hosting, who had said nothing of his own achievements, had attained the highest scores in philosophy at Cambridge University in the last decade. Jonathan Sacks returned to his family in California, where he received confirmation of his forthcoming private audience with the Rebbe—which was scheduled for Thursday night, August 22.32 Rabbi Sacks then returned by Greyhound bus for the 72-hour journey to New York.

The First Private Audience

Rabbi Yehudah Leib Groner, the Rebbe’s secretary—who was responsible for the private appointments—had by now heard of Jonathan Sacks’s intellectual gifts and was concerned that he might want to engage the Rebbe in lengthy late-night discussions. He explained to Rabbi Sacks that the Rebbe had the practice of not eating during the day before a nighttime private audience and that he would again not eat on the day after the meeting, as he would be visiting the Ohel [the resting place of his predecessor]. He therefore allocated to him the last meeting of the night but urged a ten-minute limit to the meeting.

As was customary, Rabbi Sacks had submitted his questions in writing prior. In one of his questions, Rabbi Sacks included an encapsulation of complex philosophical arguments for the existence of G‑d and sought the Rebbe’s input relative to each argument.33 It has been suggested34 that the complexity of his question alone immediately revealed to the Rebbe the exceptional, advanced intellectual sophistication of the questioner. Rabbi Sacks later recalled,35 “I asked him all my intellectual, philosophical questions; he gave intellectual, philosophical answers, and then he did what no one else had done: he did a role reversal.” The Rebbe had answered the questions quite rapidly, and then he asked Rabbi Sacks questions of his own. Rabbi Sacks, who had hitherto assumed that he was conducting an interview, considered this to be “an extraordinary moment.”

The Rebbe asked him, “How many Jewish students are there at Cambridge, and how many participate in the activities of its Jewish Society?” He replied that, of an estimated one thousand Jewish students, only one hundred attended the Jewish Society’s activities, and that they were losing ninety percent of the Jewish students. The Rebbe persisted with his questioning: “And what are you doing about it, and what are you doing to enhance Jewish life in Cambridge?” Rabbi Sacks, who once confided to Rabbi Lew that his dream in life at that time had been to sit uninterrupted and write, had not expected this, as he had never considered himself to be a leader or someone involved in “reaching out.” He then realized that the Rebbe was challenging him to become a leader—to do something to improve Jewish life at Cambridge rather than complaining about the situation. Rabbi Sacks later recalled his attempts to reply to this challenge in defense of his situation:

… I used the phrase—a classic in the vocabulary of excuse-making—“In the situation in which I find myself….” The Rebbe allowed the sentence to get no further. “No one ever finds himself in a situation,” he said. “He places himself in a situation. And if he placed himself in this situation, he can place himself in another situation….”36

The meeting lasted for twenty minutes rather than the allocated ten,37 but afterward Rabbi Sacks told others38 that he felt the meeting “hadn’t really ended” and that it would continue at some future time.

Rabbi Sacks later referred to the audience as “a meeting that changed my life.”39 Concerning this first encounter he commented:40

This was wholly unexpected and life-changing. Here was one of the leaders of the Jewish world taking time—considerable time—to listen to an unknown undergraduate student from thousands of miles away and speak to him as if he mattered, as if he could make a difference.41

Rabbi Sacks recalled, “That … was when I realized what I have said many times since: that the world was wrong. When they thought that the most important fact about the Rebbe was that here was a man with thousands of followers, they missed the most important fact: that a good leader creates followers, but a great leader creates leaders.”42

A telling indication of the profound impact that the 1968 encounter had on Rabbi Sacks’s life is found in an essay he penned five decades later, a year before his passing, entitled “The Greatness of Humility.” After explaining that Judaism introduced to the ancient world its “radically new idea” that a king should be humble and that humility is a virtue for all, Rabbi Sacks continued:

… One of the most humble people I ever met was the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. There was nothing self-abasing about him. He carried himself with a quiet dignity. He was self-confident and had an almost regal bearing. But when you were alone with him, he made you feel that you were the most important person in the room. It was an extraordinary gift. It was “royalty without a crown.” It was, in the words of Spencer W. Kimball, “greatness in plain clothes.” It taught me that humility is not thinking you are small. It is thinking that other people have greatness within them.43

Subsequent Interactions

Rabbi Sacks stayed on in Crown Heights and continued his Torah study there with the three students mentioned above. Often, when the Rebbe entered the synagogue for prayers, he noticed the young student and smiled at him knowingly. Inquisitive bystanders, surprised by this “special attention,” were told of his exceptional academic achievements, and he soon became “a personality” among the throng.

Another means of communication with the Rebbe at that period was to approach him at a public farbrengen while niggunim (Chassidic melodies) were sung between his talks. On more than one occasion, Rabbi Sacks took advantage of this opportunity to “continue their conversation.”44

We know that, during one such interaction, Rabbi Sacks asked the Rebbe how he could reconcile his love for art, music, and literature with Judaism, since each of these domains has elements that can be antithetical to—and sometimes forbidden by—Halachah. The Rebbe replied that through Rabbi Sacks’s acquisition of a deeper experience of Judaism and through his study of Chassidic texts, he would come to experience a deeper appreciation and a deeper dimension to his love of art, music, and literature. Moreover, this added dimension would amply compensate for the absence of those elements that are precluded by Halachah.

It was at this time that Rabbi Sacks would ask Chabad chassidim to sing for him the most revered of all Chabad melodies, known as the Alter Rebbe’s niggun.45 When they explained that Chabad custom limits singing this melody to special events such as under the chuppah at the start of a wedding ceremony, he would often ask Chabad adherents to take him to Chabad wedding ceremonies, which they did.

At the Rebbe’s farbrengen on the Shabbat before his scheduled return to England, he approached the Rebbe during the niggunim to express appreciation and bid farewell. Surprised, the Rebbe asked him why he was leaving. He answered, “I have to get back to Cambridge; the term is beginning.” the Rebbe replied, “But the Cambridge term does not begin until October.” Rabbi Sacks later commented, “I never knew then—I still don’t know today—how he knew it, but he was right.”46 He said to me, “I think you should stay for Rosh Hashanah.” Rabbi Sacks delayed his departure, and he later recollected:

… I heard the Rebbe on Rosh Hashanah blow shofar. Quite the most remarkable experience I ever had. The purity of those notes, the sight of all the hasidim hanging from every surface, trying to catch sight of R. Schneerson blowing shofar. And I heard a sound in which heaven and earth touched. And the echoes of that shofar have stayed with me ever since. That was the challenge he threw down. A challenge to lead.47

Return to Cambridge and Study in Kfar Chabad, Israel

Upon his return to Cambridge, Rabbi Lew started a fortnightly class in Rabbi Sacks’s dormitory room on campus. Given Rabbi Sacks’s exceptional abilities and newly acquired knowledge of Chassidic philosophy, Rabbi Lew would first study privately with Rabbi Sacks for an hour before the time arranged by Rabbi Sacks for the other students to join the session.48 Back in England, reflecting on his private meeting with the Rebbe, Rabbi Sacks later told Rabbi Lew that “meeting leaders other than the Rebbe, one could sense their greatness; in the case of the Rebbe, one could sense that his focus was on making you realize your own greatness.”

Rabbi Sacks disclosed49 that after he graduated from Cambridge approximately one year after his audience, “that meeting was still with [him]” and prompted him to proceed to yeshiva in Kfar Chabad, Israel, rather than proceeding directly to a career.

Even though, when addressing the Convention of Shluchim in 2011, he described this period in yeshiva as “a wonderful experience,” it was not without its challenges. Because of his exceptional maturity and his now finely honed approach to diligent, extremely organized study, living in the same dormitory as sixteen-year-olds who might stay up late at night did not enable the silence needed by one whose application to scholarship was absolute. Later, he would often compare the all-pervasive silence of the university library to the raucous beit midrash of a yeshiva, where study partners literally bellow at one another in spirited debate over the true meaning of a Talmudic text. This culture initially shocked him and required adjustment on his part. Later, he would explain that this commotion was indicative of a Torah scholar’s feeling and enthusiasm for the matter under analysis. He likened the sea of black suits and white shirts to the Midrashic concept of the Torah written as “black fire on white fire,”50 where the students’ enthusiasm was represented by the fire.

The dean of the English-speaking section of Yeshivat Tomchei Tmimim of Kfar Chabad, Rabbi Shneur Zalman Gafne, recalled Sacks’s rapid advancement in Talmudic studies, noting that very soon after his arrival he was capable of translating and deciphering the meaning of comments by Rashi on the Talmud. Rabbi Gafne related, “Very often he would independently pose a question to me that was perplexing him; that same question had been raised centuries before by one of the great Talmudic commentators.”51

During his time in Kfar Chabad, Rabbi Sacks gave serious consideration to totally immersing himself in Chabad teachings, with a view to becoming a dedicated chassid. However, he realized that this would entail him becoming a different person from the Orthodox academic—with a strong admiration for Chabad teachings—whose return to England was awaited by his future wife (and future rebbetzin), Elaine.

Rabbi Lew observed a significant change in him upon his return to London in 1970 after nine months in Kfar Chabad. He would now accompany the Chabad rabbis to a shabbaton as a speaker and contributor rather than as a listener and participant.

Rabbi Sacks still felt that he had not done enough to meet the Rebbe’s challenge to become a leader. So, he studied for rabbinic ordination at Etz Chaim Yeshiva and Jews’ College in London, qualified as a rabbi,52 and thought that he was now ready to continue with the rest of his life. Rabbi Sacks excelled in his rabbinic studies and was the only student ordained by Rabbi Noson Ordman to have scored 100 percent on his examination.53

Torah Studies: A Labor of Love

In response to the Rebbe’s 1971 initiation of a “Campaign for Torah Study,”54 Rabbi Vogel sought to disseminate a weekly address by the Rebbe in pamphlet form; he wanted Rabbi Sacks to translate some of the Rebbe’s Torah insights from his Likkutei Sichot, most of which were then inaccessible to the English-speaking public.55

As Rabbi Sacks did not know Yiddish—the language in which most sichot were then published—the two arranged a weekly study partnership to review them. Rabbi Lew would also be involved in this study with Rabbi Sacks. For the next two years, Rabbi Sacks would drive every week from his home in Hampstead Garden Suburb to either Rabbi Vogel or Rabbi Lew in Stamford Hill. Rabbi Vogel recalled, “We both gained much from those weekly meetings at which we would study the sichot in depth, exploring their meaning and coming to final decisions about how to transmit them in terms comprehensible to the lay public. During our time together, R. Sacks would often point out the correct usage of certain English words or phrases and how to avoid unintended connotations. The following week he would return with the original address adapted and written up in flowing English and, after occasional correction, it would be distributed to friends and supporters of Lubavitch.” Rabbi Aaron Dov Sufrin, director of education at Lubavitch Foundation of London, later sought and received the Rebbe’s permission for the pamphlets to be compiled into a book.

The first edition of Torah Studies was published in 1986 by the Lubavitch Foundation.56 After the book’s publication, Rabbi Vogel sent Rabbi Sacks a Lubavitch Foundation check for one thousand pounds in appreciation of his work. Rabbi Sacks returned it, thanking him for the thought and declaring that it had been “a labor of love.”

In 2014, some forty years after engaging in this task, Rabbi Sacks recalled translating Torah Studies:

When, under the impact of that first encounter [with the Rebbe], I eventually decided to study for semichah [rabbinic ordination], I wanted to demonstrate my gratitude to the person who had led me in this direction. So I devoted much of my spare time that year, 5734, to translating some of the Rebbe’s sichot into English…. That was a transformative experience in itself. When you come to translate someone else’s words, you come to know their thoughts quite intimately…. In particular, I began to see how one theme ran like a connecting thread through many of his speeches—the idea of yeridah letzorech aliyah, a descent for the sake of an ascent. He was constantly engaged in what a psychotherapist would call “reframing.” Yes, the Jewish people had undergone a monumental tragedy during the Holocaust; yes, Jewish life as he found it in America when he became the Rebbe was in a weakened state. Assimilation ran high. So did intermarriage rates. But the Rebbe, with his profound belief in Divine providence, was convinced that descent is the beginning of ascent, disconnection is a call to reconnection and tragedy itself the prelude to redemption. That is how the Rebbe rescued hope and rekindled a fire that seemed almost to have died.57

1978: The Second Private Audience

In January 1978, Rabbi Sacks met the Rebbe for a second audience, which proved to be as life-changing as the first. In his note to the Rebbe, he set out three career options before him: (1) to pursue an academic career and ultimately become a professor at Cambridge; (2) to study economics and become an economist; or (3) to become a barrister.

Interestingly, the Rebbe ignored these suggestions and spoke about the dearth of rabbis confronting Anglo Jewry. He urged him to “train rabbis” specifically “at Jews’ College,” adding that Rabbi Sacks must himself become a congregational rabbi, so that his students would come hear him deliver sermons, stating, “You will give sermons, and they will learn from you.” Though initially astonished, as a rabbinic career was the furthest thing from his mind, Rabbi Sacks respected the Rebbe’s advice and relinquished his three ambitions. He indeed trained rabbis and taught in Jews’ College, eventually becoming its principal, while serving simultaneously as a congregational rabbi.58

Many years later, Rabbi Sacks reflected:

Having given up all my three ambitions, having decided to walk in the complete opposite direction, a funny thing happened. I did become a fellow of my college in Cambridge. I did become a professor. In fact, this year I have three professorships: one in Oxford University and two in London University. I did deliver Britain’s top two economics lectures, the Mais lecture59 and the Hayek lecture,60 and the Inner Temple made me an honorary barrister and invited me to give a law lecture in front of six hundred barristers, the Lord Chancellor—the highest lawyer in Britain, with Princess Anne in attendance. You know, you never lose anything by putting Yiddishkeit first. And I learned something very deep: sometimes the best way of achieving your ambitions is to stop pursuing them, and let them pursue you.61

It is to be noted that the Rebbe’s advice to Rabbi Sacks ran contrary to what he advised many others62 in similar situations. In most instances, he discouraged academics desirous of abandoning academia in order to assume rabbinic positions from doing so, suggesting that they could do more for the Jewish people in their chosen field than by serving as rabbis. It would appear that he believed Rabbi Sacks would do more as a rabbi (and later as Chief Rabbi) than as a celebrated professor.

In accordance with the Rebbe’s advice, Rabbi Sacks would serve as a congregational rabbi in London for thirteen years63 and lecture in Jewish philosophy and Talmud at Jews’ College. In May 1981, the Lubavitch Foundation of Great Britain organized the International Seminar on Jewish Mysticism at the Oxford Centre for Management Studies, featuring speakers Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, Rabbi Zalman Posner, Professor Yitzchak Block, and Rabbi Sacks. Besides delivering his own lecture entitled “The Practical Implications of Infinity,” Rabbi Sacks was charged with putting questions to the visiting scholars.64 An outgrowth of the seminar was the Kehot Publication Society’s 1989 publication of the 144-page book, To Touch the Divine: A Jewish Mysticism Primer, comprising essays from the symposium by Rabbi Sacks, Rabbi Posner, Rabbi Schochet, Professor Block, and Rabbi Adin Even-Yisrael Steinsaltz.

After teaching for several years at Jews’ College, he became its principal in 1984 and oversaw the training of rabbis for Anglo Jewry.65

A Doctoral Thesis

In that same private meeting of 1978, Rabbi Sacks mentioned to the Rebbe that he was working on his doctorate in philosophy. The Rebbe encouraged him to write his thesis not on abstract philosophy but on a theme connected with the rabbinate and added that, on its completion, he would be interested in reading it. However, when he completed it several years later, he was reluctant to submit his 400-page thesis to the Rebbe, considering the enormous volume of letters he received daily. Rabbi Vogel urged him to nevertheless follow the Rebbe’s request. Several weeks after sending a copy, he received a succinct, handwritten Hebrew letter in reply, indicating that the Rebbe had read it. The thesis was entitled Rabbinic Concepts of Responsibility for Others: A Study of the Commandment of Rebuke and the Idea of Mutual Surety.

In his first comment, the Rebbe made two technical observations which can perhaps be best understood in light of Chassidism’s emphasis on encouraging the latent positive potential in errant individuals, rather than focusing on the condemnation of inappropriate behavior. He first expressed his surprise and even disappointment that Rabbi Sacks had chosen to utilize the harsh term “rebuke” to translate biblical verse Leviticus 19:17—“You shall admonish your fellow.” He was concerned the term might be misunderstood by many to imply rejection and dismissal of the unaffiliated.66 The Rebbe also pointed out that in contrast to the obligation to admonish, the mitzvah of “loving one’s fellow as oneself” (Leviticus 19:18) is a Torah obligation that applies even in a case of doubt, where one is required to err on the side of caution and employ love, notwithstanding the unlikelihood of its receptivity or reciprocation. Having made these inaugural observations, the Rebbe further encouraged Rabbi Sacks in his capacity as a rabbi and educator, rather than doing something that might inadvertently endorse the harsh approach of rebuke, to do its very opposite. He therefore urged him to publicly raise concern about the inappropriateness of the harsh attitude to the non-observant implied by the inappropriate translation of Leviticus 19:17 as “rebuke,” with its negative connotations.

Rabbi Sacks derived the lesson from the Rebbe’s comments that, even when we reprove others, our intention is not to reject or break them but to express our love for them. Rabbi Sacks later told Rabbi Vogel that he thereafter made this a central foundation of his own approach as a spiritual leader, and it became his “motto” throughout his life.67

In his comments, the Rebbe also expressed surprise that Rabbi Sacks’s thesis, which concentrated on the theme of Jewish unity and mutual responsibility as reflected in Jewish law, had omitted mention of the thirty-second chapter of Tanya, the chapter that analyzes the obligation of loving one’s fellow from a mystical perspective and with halachic implications and unique insights.

At the time of receiving this reply, Rabbi Sacks was initially puzzled by this reference to the thirty-second chapter of Tanya. While this chapter is a landmark in Jewish mysticism, Rabbi Sacks had written his doctorate on the subject of Jewish law. He understood that both were about the same themes: collective responsibility, the imperative of love, and the command to remonstrate with our fellow Jew when we see him doing wrong. However, he reasoned that law is one thing, mysticism another. He had certainly included in his survey the halachic work of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi—his legal code, the Shulchan Aruch Harav—and this contained important material for his subject, which he had duly cited and analyzed. But it had seemed to Rabbi Sacks that mysticism lay beyond the terms of reference that he had set himself; and for that reason, he had excluded references to the Tanya. Upon reflection, Rabbi Sacks later concluded:

The Rebbe was making a fundamental and far-reaching assertion, namely that we cannot understand even the law of collective Jewish responsibility without first grasping its basis in mysticism. There are some laws which are of their essence mystical in character. They are expressions of an irreducibly spiritual vision… I want to make explicit the remarkable line of thought at which I believe the Rebbe was hinting in his cryptic comment, for it is full of relevance to the task to which the Rebbe devoted his life.68

Rabbi Sacks explained that Rabbi Shneur Zalman was setting out the idea that all Jews are mystically united. He wrote:

Their bodies are separate but their souls are one. They share, as it were, a single collective spiritual substance. For those who live at the level of the body, Ahavat Yisrael, love of fellow Jews, is a difficult command. But for those who live at the level of the soul, it is a natural emotion. Jews have in the deep structure of their consciousness a collective identity.69

1991: Appointment as Chief Rabbi

In 1990, Anglo Jewry was looking for a new Chief Rabbi, and it was clear that Rabbi Sacks was one of the candidates. With the permission of his wife and children, he sought the Rebbe’s advice—as he was unsure about his suitability for the job—setting out the advantages and disadvantages of the position. He concluded his letter by asking, “If they offer me the job, should I accept?” Using the typographical symbol that is used by proofreaders for “reverse word order,” the Rebbe’s succinct reply changed Rabbi Sacks’s question of “should I?” to the response of “I should.”70

As Chief Rabbi between 1991 and 2013, Rabbi Sacks led a renewal of Jewish life in Great Britain. He launched innovative communal projects like Jewish Continuity, a national foundation for Jewish educational programs and outreach, and oversaw the growth of Jewish schools and the revitalization of Jewish community life.

Reflecting on his role as Chief Rabbi, he commented, “In that job I have tried to the best of my ability—if I succeeded, I don’t know—what I know the Rebbe would have wanted me to do: to build schools, to improve Anglo-Jewish education, to reach out, and to make not followers but leaders….”71

Global Promotion of Noahide Laws

Rabbi Sacks was described by King Charles III as “a light unto this nation” and by former UK Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair as “an intellectual giant.” In seeking to promote moral values, Rabbi Sacks was a frequent and sought-after contributor to radio, television, and the press, both in Britain and around the world.

In reference to this endeavor, Rabbi Sacks wrote:

There was a point in the 1970s and 80s, when the Rebbe developed a very interesting campaign … to reach out not just to Jews, but also to non-Jews. I realized that in my new position as Chief Rabbi I could do just that. So, I started broadcasting on the BBC, on radio, on television, writing for the national press. I wrote books read by non-Jews as well as Jews and the effect was absolutely extraordinary… The more I wrote the more they wanted to read, and you know what that experience told me—not only the wisdom, the vast foresight of the Rebbe in understanding that the world was ready to hear a Jewish message and that non-Jews respect Jews who respect Judaism.72

Rabbi Sacks was referring to the global educational initiative formally launched by the Rebbe in 198373 to promote a universal moral code74 by teaching and disseminating the seven Noahide Laws.75

In further pursuit of this goal, in 1990 Rabbi Sacks delivered the Reith Lectures76 on “The Persistence of Faith, Religion, Morality and Society in a Secular Age,” and, through books like The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations, and in particular, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times, he continued to teach universal ethics. A pervasive theme of Rabbi Sacks’s communications was that Judaism can and must engage with the world. In his writings, he repeatedly demonstrated how Jewish values provide timeless instruction for the dilemmas faced by our society and world.77

Facing Retirement

After stepping down from the role of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom in 2013, Rabbi Sacks discussed his future plans with his longtime mentor and friend, Rabbi Lew. Rabbi Lew shared with him the advice given by the Rebbe to President Zalman Shazar when the president was hesitantly contemplating his imminent retirement after serving two terms as president of the State of Israel. The Rebbe78 had advised President Shazar that once free from the burdens of public office, he would be able to make those weighty contributions hitherto precluded by his engagement in official duties. In the course of that conversation, Rabbi Sacks assured Rabbi Lew that he had no intention of slowing down, likening his anticipated “acceleration” of activities to that of a car—previously constrained by the congested inner-city traffic—that leaves those speed limits behind as it proceeds to the swift, unencumbered travel of the open road.79

After stepping down as Chief Rabbi, in addition to his international traveling and speaking engagements and prolific writing, Rabbi Sacks served as Professor of Judaic Thought at both New York University and Yeshiva University. He was also appointed Professor of Law, Ethics, and the Bible at King’s College in London and as Senior Fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. In 2016, he was awarded the Templeton Prize for work affirming life’s spiritual dimension. He was increasingly seen as a voice of moral clarity for both religious and secular audiences with his books providing his vast readership across the globe with plentiful inspiration.

Conclusion

Rabbi Sacks’s untimely passing on November 7, 2020 (20 Cheshvan 5781), at the age of 72, left a world bereft of his towering intellect, his eloquent communication of Jewish values to the wider world, and his infusion of our generation with pride in its Jewish heritage.

Rabbi Sacks himself once reflected, “At the three critical turning points in my life, the Rebbe was my satellite navigation system, showing me where to go and how. And though I didn’t always understand why at the time—in retrospect I see how extraordinary his advice was, and how wise.”80

In the introductory essay to his 2015 volume, Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible,81 Rabbi Sacks related in detail the course of his 1968 travels to America and Canada, and in particular, his meeting with the Rebbe. About this book, and referring specifically to the Rebbe’s advice to him, he wrote:

It is as a way of saying a belated thank you to him [R. Schneerson] that I wrote this book. One of the most important tasks of a leader is to encourage leadership in others. That is what I hope these essays do in some small way for you…82

In 1991, nearly thirty years before his passing, Rabbi Sacks was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs by its presenter, Sue Lawley. Asked which of his eight selected records would be most essential to him on an imaginary desert island, he chose the Chabad niggun “Tzamah Lekha Nafshi” (“My soul thirsts for You,” Psalms 63:2), adding, “I hope that one day that will be my epitaph—that my soul thirsted for G‑d.” Indeed, in accordance with that wish, those words are inscribed on his tombstone, and the niggun was sung at his funeral.83

On his yahrzeit, as we reflect on his momentous influence as a global religious leader, award-winning author, and respected moral voice, the pivotal interactions between Rabbi Sacks and the Rebbe are all the more pertinent.

As we continue to derive inspiration from the vast repository of Rabbi Sacks’s wisdom, we pray that the soul of Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks—Harav Yaakov Tzvi ben David Aryeh, of blessed memory—be bound up in the bond of eternal life.

This article was originally published in The Lehrhaus and is reproduced with permission.