Sacks, Lord Jonathan (1948-2020), was a prominent British rabbi (Jewish minister). He served as chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013. The United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth is the largest organization of Orthodox Jewish synagogues in the United Kingdom , and its head rabbi serves as a leading spokesman for British Jews .
Jonathan Sacks was born on March 8, 1948, in London. He studied at various Jewish institutions, including the Jews’ College, London, and earned degrees from Cambridge and Oxford universities. He was ordained a rabbi in 1976. He joined the faculty of the Jews’ College in 1973 and served as principal of the institution from 1984 to 1990. In 2005, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom knighted Sacks. In 2009, he was appointed to the House of Lords , one of two houses of the British Parliament. After Sacks stepped down as chief rabbi in 2013, he was appointed as a professor at King’s College London, New York University , and Yeshiva University in New York City. In 2016, Sacks received the Templeton Prize , given for contributions to an expansion of spiritual awareness.
Sacks wrote many books, including Tradition in an Untraditional Age (1990), Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity (1991), Will We Have Jewish Grandchildren?: Jewish Continuity and How To Achieve It (1994), Community of Faith (1996), The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations (2002), and Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times (2020). He also made frequent radio broadcasts. Sacks died on Nov. 7, 2020.
