Jonathan Sacks
ARTICLES BY: Jonathan Sacks
We Must Plan for the Future, or Watch Our World Collapse
In her recent book, The Watchman’s Rattle (subtitled "Thinking our way out of extinction"), Rebecca Costa delivers a fascinating account of how civilizations die. Their problems become...
Atoning for Unwitting Sins
This week's parsha, Vayikra, is about sacrifices. And though the laws we learn in it have been inoperative for almost 2,000 years, the moral principles...
Why the Journey of Life Never Ends
Right at the end of the book of Shemot, there is a textual difficulty so slight that it is easy to miss. But -- as...
Is Shabbat the First Day or the Last?
In the immensely lengthy and detailed account of the making of the Tabernacle, the Torah tells the story twice: first via Divine instruction, and then by human implementation....
Aaron and Moses Taught Brothers to Live in Unity
Tetzaveh is the only sedra (Torah portion) between Exodus and Deuteronomy that does not contain the word “Moses." For once, Moses -- the hero, the leader, the liberator, the lawgiver -- is...
The Architecture of Holiness
From this week's Torah portion to the end of the Book of Exodus, the holy book describes, in painstaking detail and great length, the construction of the...
God Can Only Push Us So Far — The Rest Is Up to Us
In Yitro, we encountered the Aseret Hadibrot -- the “ten utterances” (or general principles) of Judaism. Now, in Mishpatim, come the details. Here is how they...
Do We Seek Justice or Peace?
The parsha for Yitro, which contains the greatest Divine revelation in history (at Mount Sinai), begins on a note that is all too human. Yitro, the...
The Power of the Human Spirit
In September 2010, the BBC, Reuters and other news agencies reported on a sensational scientific discovery. Researchers at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research...
Judaism Teaches Us the Necessity of Asking Questions and Raising Our Children to Do So
It is no accident that parshat Bo, the section that deals with the culminating plagues and the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, should turn...
We Must Have Freedom in Order to Speak Truth
In this week's parsha, Moses is not upfront with Pharaoh. If he does not tell him a lie, he does tell him less than the full truth. Here is...
Like Moses, We Must Ask: ‘Who Am I?’
Moses’ second question to God at the burning bush was: "Who are you?" (Ex. 3:13). His first question, though, was, "Mi anochi" -- “Who am I?” (Ex....
The Promise of American Renewal
On 20th January 2017, one of the great rituals of modern politics will take place: the inaugural address of a new President of the United...
Our Story Has Yet to Be Fully Written
Different cultures tell different stories. The great novelists of the 19th century wrote fiction that is essentially ethical. Jane Austen and George Eliot explored the...
