This month, the London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS) is offering students the chance to mark Rabbi Sacks’ fourth yahrzeit, with a special free event and an exciting opportunity to study the key works that defined his career.
Rabbi Sacks: The American years is a unique free event to mark Rabbi Sacks’ yahrzeit by exploring how his books, philosophy and unique message spread widely across America, in the years following his retirement as Chief Rabbi.
Two influential New York-based leaders; Dr Mijal Bitton and Rabbi Gideon Black, who learnt with Rabbi Sacks in the US, will be in conversation with Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum. They will share fascinating insights into his influence on their Jewish learning, Rabbi Sacks’ understanding of America and his wider impact on American Jewry. This very special online event is on Wednesday 20 November at 8pm (UK time). Although the event is free, booking is essential. If you can't join live, a recording will be available.
The Library of Rabbi Sacks is a 17-week course examining four radical books that illuminate his core teachings. The new and innovative course will give participants the opportunity to delve into key aspects of his thinking, as demonstrated over the course of his career.
Rabbi Sacks was a prolific writer, with each of his books considered a response to a burning question of modern Judaism. His aim was for readers to actively engage with his writings and arrive at their own understanding of the issues.
The books examined on the course are One People?, Not in God’s Name, The Dignity of Difference and Future Tense, taught by teachers including Rabbi Barry Kleinberg, Rabbi Gideon Sylvester and Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum, who is the Rabbi Sacks Chair of Modern Jewish Thought established by the Zandan family.
The course will present, discuss and critique Rabbi Sacks’ ideas in each book. His views have provided the basis for ongoing conversations to help us renew our faith, connect with Israel and engage with the world. The 17-week course starts Wednesday 27 November, in-person and online, with a celebratory siyum on Monday 23 June.
LSJS has always been committed to furthering Rabbi Sacks’ teachings and since his untimely death, it has introduced its free, popular, international Covenant & Continuity course on the weekly parasha, which attracts hundreds of people from around the world. The school has also updated and reimagined a course for students, devised by Rabbi Sacks in 1978, which aimed to introduce the main themes and challenges of Jewish faith and practice. Its Rabbi Sacks Fellowship is a one-year programme for engaged young professionals that navigates contemporary modern living through an honest engagement with Jewish thought, teachings and wisdom.
“There are profound ideas in the early writings of Rabbi Sacks that we desperately need to hear today: appreciating diversity, the inclusiveness of the sages, trust in God’s covenant, the list goes on”, said Rabbi Dr Zarum. “Through our various programmes at LSJS we are teaching these powerful messages that resonate so strongly today for young and old.”
“LSJS has always been at the forefront of Rabbi Sacks’ teachings and we are delighted to be offering such an innovative course examining some of his monumental writings,” said Joanne Greenaway, Chief Executive of LSJS. “Now is an ideal time to be marking his yahrzeit by examining his relationship with American Jewry and how his ideas spread on the other side of the Atlantic.”
