Thank you, for you openness! Very revealing and much appreciated. So glad, Rabbi you are still with us! May you be blessed always. Shalom. Moira From England.
I have the highest respect for you as a leader and role model, Rabbi Sacks. No one else puts together ethical teachings of the Torah and balances them with erudite gleanings from Nietzsche to Montesquieu! Yasher koach and hoping to see you next time you visit your students of thousands in the US.
It is not every century, even, that a person of the stellar quality of Rabbi Sacks appears amongst us, as a "guide to the perplexed" and "consolation to Zion." The integration evident in everything he writes and does of the entire modern experience, Jewish and non-Jewish, with deepest spiritual Torah commitment is very moving and an awesome accomplishment just in itself, and stands as a model for the rest of us. He is truly a leader of the Jewish religion, community and people, for our times. He makes it look easy. But of course that can never have been the case. At the least, it takes enormous courage and dedication. That comes out in this very personal, humble and open, and characteristically brilliant and penetrating analysis of leadership as such. It inspires love and gratitude, even if one were not familiar with any of Rabbi Sacks' other works. It is not accidental that his remarks about leadership would serve perfectly for any leader of any organization or group. One especially wishes that every world leader would view this video. It would make a big difference to world events. The opening remarks on his disheartening experience of the fierce reaction to his extraordinary 2002, 2003 book "The Dignity of Difference," are especially moving and have a special resonance. He was reproached by certain fanatical ultra-Orthodox critics for allegedly merely equating Judaism with other religions, and preaching a tolerance that had no place for the special excellencies of and superiority of Torah-true Judaism. In short, he was accused of cultural-religious relativism, which if true would make of his entire book a very dubious proposition, in fact simply heretical as he says in this video. However, no serious or even genuine reader of that book could possibly maintain that conclusion. It contradicts the text. After all, cultural/religious relativism preaches a sameness to all religions that denies the specific standards both moral and religious of each, reducing all to the lowest common denominator in the process and equating all with the worst rather than the best, so it is fundamentally nihilistic in its implications as we see around us everywhere in the secular world. The outrage of the critics at this supposed error merely based itself on a sentence or two taken out of context, wilfully misunderstood and extrapolated, which Rabbi Sacks modified in his revised edition of 2003. He only made very minor changes in wording, and none in actual content, in those few sentences, in that revision. But the text of his entire book clearly and explicitly reflects Torah and Talmudic teachings about the Noachite Covenant including in its stress on moral and spiritual fundamentals that cannot be dismissed no matter what religion we are talking of, so it firmly stands on ages-old Judaic principles and is thoroughly "Orthodox." There was nothing scandalous at all in actuality in his book. It was standard Jewish teachings, just phrased in contemporary and general terms. Judaism has always taught a tolerance and universalism that is far broader and more humane than the exclusivistic and aggressive universalisms of her daughter religions, and it is good that this loftier standpoint has been given voice so ably in this generation above all. I am so glad that he stood his ground and did not give up, or even resign his Chief Rabbinate position. Thank you, Rabbi Sacks, for standing up for Judaism so very ably in the public arena. It is not only we Jews who need you. The non-Jewish world does too.
It´s an honor and privilege to listen, an outstanding Rabbi Jonathan Sacks!
Thank you, for you openness!
Very revealing and much appreciated.
So glad, Rabbi you are still with us!
May you be blessed always.
Shalom.
Moira
From England.
Inspirationally honest and vulnerable. Thank you Rabbi Sacks
What an amazing man, teacher and leader. Rabbi your legacy shall live on through your work.
I have the highest respect for you as a leader and role model, Rabbi Sacks. No one else puts together ethical teachings of the Torah and balances them with erudite gleanings from Nietzsche to Montesquieu! Yasher koach and hoping to see you next time you visit your students of thousands in the US.
It is not every century, even, that a person of the stellar quality of Rabbi Sacks appears amongst us, as a "guide to the perplexed" and "consolation to Zion." The integration evident in everything he writes and does of the entire modern experience, Jewish and non-Jewish, with deepest spiritual Torah commitment is very moving and an awesome accomplishment just in itself, and stands as a model for the rest of us. He is truly a leader of the Jewish religion, community and people, for our times.
He makes it look easy. But of course that can never have been the case. At the least, it takes enormous courage and dedication. That comes out in this very personal, humble and open, and characteristically brilliant and penetrating analysis of leadership as such. It inspires love and gratitude, even if one were not familiar with any of Rabbi Sacks' other works.
It is not accidental that his remarks about leadership would serve perfectly for any leader of any organization or group. One especially wishes that every world leader would view this video. It would make a big difference to world events.
The opening remarks on his disheartening experience of the fierce reaction to his extraordinary 2002, 2003 book "The Dignity of Difference," are especially moving and have a special resonance. He was reproached by certain fanatical ultra-Orthodox critics for allegedly merely equating Judaism with other religions, and preaching a tolerance that had no place for the special excellencies of and superiority of Torah-true Judaism. In short, he was accused of cultural-religious relativism, which if true would make of his entire book a very dubious proposition, in fact simply heretical as he says in this video. However, no serious or even genuine reader of that book could possibly maintain that conclusion. It contradicts the text. After all, cultural/religious relativism preaches a sameness to all religions that denies the specific standards both moral and religious of each, reducing all to the lowest common denominator in the process and equating all with the worst rather than the best, so it is fundamentally nihilistic in its implications as we see around us everywhere in the secular world. The outrage of the critics at this supposed error merely based itself on a sentence or two taken out of context, wilfully misunderstood and extrapolated, which Rabbi Sacks modified in his revised edition of 2003. He only made very minor changes in wording, and none in actual content, in those few sentences, in that revision. But the text of his entire book clearly and explicitly reflects Torah and Talmudic teachings about the Noachite Covenant including in its stress on moral and spiritual fundamentals that cannot be dismissed no matter what religion we are talking of, so it firmly stands on ages-old Judaic principles and is thoroughly "Orthodox." There was nothing scandalous at all in actuality in his book. It was standard Jewish teachings, just phrased in contemporary and general terms. Judaism has always taught a tolerance and universalism that is far broader and more humane than the exclusivistic and aggressive universalisms of her daughter religions, and it is good that this loftier standpoint has been given voice so ably in this generation above all. I am so glad that he stood his ground and did not give up, or even resign his Chief Rabbinate position. Thank you, Rabbi Sacks, for standing up for Judaism so very ably in the public arena. It is not only we Jews who need you. The non-Jewish world does too.
Thank you so much Rabbi Sacks
Thank you for being so honest...making yourself vulnerable...Wonderful...
14:35 I always say... If at first you don't succeed, perhaps skydiving is not for you.
Toda Rabbi great talks!
L'Chaim!