One of the most respected religious thinkers of our time makes an impassioned plea for the return of religion to its true purpose—as a partnership with God in the work of ethical and moral living.
What are our duties to others, to society, and to humanity? How do we live a meaningful life in an age of global uncertainty and instability? In To Heal a Fractured World, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks offers answers to these questions by looking at the ethics of responsibility. In his signature plainspoken, accessible style, Rabbi Sacks shares with us traditional interpretations of the Bible, Jewish law, and theology, as well as the works of philosophers and ethicists from other cultures, to examine what constitutes morality and moral behavior. “We are here to make a difference,” he writes, “a day at a time, an act at a time, for as long as it takes to make the world a place of justice and compassion.” He argues that in today’s religious and political climate, it is more important than ever to return to the essential understanding that “it is by our deeds that we express our faith and make it real in the lives of others and the world.”
To Heal a Fractured World—inspirational and instructive, timely and timeless—will resonate with people of all faiths.
Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks has been Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth since September 1, 1991, the sixth incumbent since 1845.
In July 2009, appointed to the House of Lords as a cross-bencher.
Prior to becoming Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Sacks served as Principal of Jews' College, London, the world's oldest rabbinical seminary, as well as rabbi of the Golders Green and Marble Arch synagogues in London. He gained rabbinic ordination from Jews' College and London's Yeshiva Etz Chaim.
His secular academic career has also been a distinguished one. Educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he obtained first class honours in Philosophy, he pursued postgraduate studies at New College, Oxford, and King's College, London. Sir Jonathan has been Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex, Sherman Lecturer at Manchester University, Riddell Lecturer at Newcastle University, Cook Lecturer at the Universities of Oxford, Edinburgh and St. Andrews and Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He is currently Visiting Professor of Theology at Kings' College London. He holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Bar Ilan, Cambridge, Glasgow, Haifa, Middlesex, Yeshiva University New York, University of Liverpool, St. Andrews University and Leeds Metropolitan University, and is an honorary fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and King's College London. In September 2001, the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred on him a Doctorate of Divinity in recognition of his first ten years in the Chief Rabbinate.
At his installation as Chief Rabbi in 1991, Dr Sacks set out his vision of a reinvigorated Anglo-Jewry and launched it with a Decade of Jewish Renewal, followed by a series of innovative communal projects. These included Jewish Continuity (a national foundation funding programmes in Jewish education and outreach), the Association of Jewish Business Ethics, the Chief Rabbinate Awards for Excellence, the Chief Rabbinate Bursaries, and Community Development, a national programme to enhance Jewish community life. In 1995, he received the Jerusalem Prize for his contribution to diaspora Jewish life. In September 2001 the Chief Rabbi began his second decade of office with a call to Jewish Responsibility and a renewed commitment to the ethical dimension of Judaism. He was awarded a Knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in June 2005. A notably gifted communicator, the Chief Rabbi is a frequent contributor to radio, television and the national press. He frequently delivers BBC RADIO 4's THOUGHT FOR THE DAY, writes a monthly CREDO column for THE TIMES and delivers an annual Rosh Hashanah message on BBC 2. In 1990 he was invited by the BBC Board of Governors to deliver the annual Reith Lectures on the subject of THE PERSISTENCE OF FAITH.
The Dignity of Difference was awarded the 2004 Grawemeyer Prize for Religion, and A Letter in the Scroll a National Jewish Book Award 2002.
Born in 1948 in London, he has been married to Elaine since 1970. They have three children, Joshua, Dina and Gila and three grandchildren.
Publications:
Tradition in an Untraditional Age (1990) Persistence of Faith (1991) Arguments for the Sake of Heaven (1991) Crisis and Covenant (1992) One People? (1993) Will We Have Jewish Grandchildren? (1994) Community of Faith (1995) Faith in the Future (1998) The Politics of Hope (1997) Morals and Markets (1999) Celebrating Life (2000) Radical Then, Radical Now (2001) The Dignity of Difference (2002) The Chief Rabbi's Haggadah (2003) From Optimism to Hope (2004) To Heal a Fractured World (2005) The Authorised Daily Prayer Book: new translation and commentary (2006) The Home We Build Together (2007) Future Tense (2009)
This is a beautifully written and inspiring work. It is rich in personal anecdote, story and example. It teaches the essence of Jewish ethics as a way of living in the modern and post- modern world. Rabbi Sacks speaks much in this book about responsibility. He speaks much about the world having gone to far in concentrating on individual development alone, without demanding connection and contribution to family and community. His message is that the Jewish covenant with God is one for recreating the world as better place, for improving the situation for others. He is concerned here with social justice and with righteousness. He believes that the seperation of the ethical from the religious is like separating two different parts of the brain that are meant to work together. He believes the Jewish imperative is to be both holy and good. And also he teaches this means finding a way to make tikkun olam and improve the well- being of all of mankind.
Rabbi Sacks tells us inspiring stories of people who have suffered and somehow managed to in that suffering still give to others. He tells us about many of the people who do goodness and acts of kindness for others modestly. He says that when he as a young person a young Rabbi first began to officiate at funerals he discovered that what relatives wanted said about the person who was gone, was nothing about their wealth power achievement in the world, but rather about their kindness and goodness to others.
His message is that each individual human being can by being good to others help mend the brokenness of the world. It is not that he is naive or believes that all the problems of this world, many of which he discusses in detail in this book can be instantly solved by such goodness. But rather that such goodness and giving to others cannot only help make it better for them, but can be the key to finding and making meaning in one's own life.
This book is a sound sane sensible ethical and moral guide for humanity.
An outstanding work but a teacher who understands that it is better to love than to fear, and better to light a single candle than to suffer in the darkness.
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This is a beautifully written and thought provoking discussion of the ethical responsibilities that we all have to ourselves, each other, and to society as a whole. It is written from the Jewish perspective, but as my Sunday school class has discovered, is an excellent launching pad for Christians, as well. It is a perfect addition to the study of Leviticus, for example.
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I think this book should be required reading for all those in our government who are looking for and working toward a peaceful solution to the war in Iraq. Rabbi Sachs draws on his deep understanding of the Torah and of human nature in discussing the basics of a religious perspective on the seemingly irreconcilable problems of relationships in the middle east. He has moved beyond the political, geographical, religious discussion of the issues which create enmity and sets our thoughts on basic theological components which we must consider if we are serious about healing our divisions. He takes us deep into our own hearts and challenges us to heal our own hearts first.
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