A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest Religion [Hardcover]

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2000

For too long, Jews have defined themselves in light of the bad things that have happened to them. And it is true that, many times in the course of history, they have been nearly decimated: when the First and Second Temples were destroyed, when the Jews were expelled from Spain, when Hitler proposed his Final Solution. Astoundingly, the Jewish people have survived catastrophe after catastrophe and remained a thriving and vibrant community. The question Rabbi Jonathan Sacks asks is, quite simply: How? How, in the face of such adversity, has Judaism remained and flourished, making a mark on human history out of all proportion to its numbers?

Written originally as a wedding gift to his son and daughter-in-law, "A Letter in the Scroll" is Rabbi Sacks's personal answer to that question, a testimony to the enduring strength of his religion. Tracing the revolutionary series of philosophical and theological ideas that Judaism created -- from covenant to sabbath to formal education -- and showing us how they remain compellingly relevant in our time, Sacks portrays Jewish identity as an honor as well as a duty.

The Ba'al Shem Tov, an eighteenth-century rabbi and founder of the Hasidic movement, famously noted that the Jewish people are like a living Torah scroll, and every individual Jew is a letter within it. If a single letter is damaged or missing or incorrectly drawn, a Torah scroll is considered invalid. So too, in Judaism, each individual is considered a crucial part of the people, without whom the entire religion would suffer. Rabbi Sacks uses this metaphor to make a passionate argument in favor of affiliation and practice in our secular times, and invites us to engage in ourdynamic and inclusive tradition. Never has a book more eloquently expressed the joys of being a Jew.

This is the story of one man's hope for the future -- a future in which the next generation, his children and ours, will happily embrace the beauty of the world's oldest religion.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Letter in the Scroll, by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of Britain, was inspired by a project he assigned to several university students. He suggested that they write to some of the most accomplished Jewish men and women in the world and ask what being Jewish meant to them. They sent out 200 letters and received six, mostly tepid, responses. Sacks considered these responses to be evidence of "confusion and demoralization at the heart of contemporary Jewish identity." He then decided to address the question himself, and A Letter in the Scroll is his answer. The book is a personal theology of Judaism, and it is a challenge to new generations of Jews to define the nature of their place in the story of Israel. Sacks's central theme is that "Judaism is not a theory, a system, a set of speculative propositions, an 'ism.' It is a call, and it bears our name." Sacks makes this argument in many ways, with reference to theology, philosophy, ancient history, and his personal experience. Most impressive, however, is his concise, direct, and wise use of Scripture: "The most eloquent words God spoke to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets was to call their name," he writes. "Their reply was simply Hineni, 'Here I am.' That is the call Jewish history makes to us: to continue the story and to write our letter in the scroll." --Michael Joseph Gross

From Booklist

Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Britain, writes eloquently about Judaism in a highly personal essay that was originally presented as a wedding gift to his children. His words speak directly to all Jews about what it means to be Jewish, why it is important to maintain a Jewish identity, and the value of the Jewish way of life. Raising themes such as the relationship between God and man, the idea of covenantal morality, and the problem of ambivalence and assimilation, Sacks formulates his thesis: that over the millennia, Jews have come to define themselves by their disasters, expulsions, persecutions, and holocausts, not their survival and strength. In a clear, steady style that can also soar, Sacks explains why this disaster-driven thinking denies the beauty and strength of Judaism. Important ideas explained in a highly accessible manner. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (November 9, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743201086
• ISBN-13: 978-0743201087
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,425,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks

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)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent Jewish philosophy book, April 15, 2001

By 

R. Stein "mnstein" (Bronx, New York United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest Religion (Hardcover)

Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of England, writes fluidly and lyrically. While this is a general, basic Jewish philosophy text, it is appropriate not only for beginners but also for those with a more advanced knowledge of Judaism. Rabbi Sacks explores a variety of ideas within Judaism including: the egalitarian nature of each Jewish person's relationship with G-d, the Hebrew Bible as the first way to understand the world and how it works without resort to myth, the covenantal relationship between the Jewish people and G-d and the covenantal relationships within Jewish families, Judaism as a rejection of both tribalism and universalism, the synagogue as a revolutionary institution, etc.

The only piece of the book that troubled me was Rabbi Sacks' treatment of the destruction of the Second Temple. While he regards it as political disaster in which the Jewish people lost their national independence, he also feels that it brought about "the flowering of its religious vision." Sacks further states, "[n]ow that the Temple lay in ruins, every Jew became a holy person, offering prayer instead of sacrifice, and achieving atonement through repentance. At long last the ideal of Sinai had become a reality. Israel really was a 'kingdom of priests.'" This fits in nicely with other ideas earlier expressed, affirming the dignity of every individual, particularly in their relationship with G-d. However, Sacks does not deal with the desire to rebuild the Temple (together with its attendant priests and sacrifices) as an important strain within Jewish thought and liturgy.

Overall, this was a pleasure to read and I recommend it highly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Substantive and Inspiring, June 13, 2008

By 

Robin - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest Religion (Paperback)

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks is always articulate and thoughtful. This book is no exception. Using beautiful language, he explains why Judaism is valuable for both individuals and for the world. The fact that the manuscript was a wedding gift to his son and daughter-in-law just adds to the poignance of the writing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars moving, May 17, 2010

By 

Dr. Howard J. Schwartz MD "HJS" (Tucson, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest Religion (Paperback)

This is a movingly persuasive discussion of reasons to stay involved, and possibly contribute , to the on-going history of the Jews.Written beautifully by one of Orthodox Jewry's best modern thinkers, it represents a challenging and thoughtful approach for those living in the midst of current world affairs.