Jonathan Sacks
ARTICLES BY: Jonathan Sacks
Parshat Vayetse: When the ‘I’ Is Silent
This week’s parsha relates a powerful, primal vision of prayer: Jacob, alone and far from home, lies down for the night, with only stones for a pillow....
Parshat Toldot: The Courage of Persistence
There is a strange passage in the life of Isaac, ominous in its foreshadowing of much of later Jewish history. Like Abraham, Isaac finds himself...
Parshat Chayei Sarah: On Judaism and Islam
The language of the Torah is, in Erich Auerbach’s famous phrase, “fraught with background.” Behind the events that are openly told are shadowy stories left...
Parshat Vayera: Sometimes We Must Put Humans Before God
God appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. He...
Parshat Lech Lecha: Having the Strength to Move Forward Alone
Within the first words that God addresses to the bearer of a new covenant, there are already hints as to the nature of the heroism...
Parshat Noach: A Drama in Four Acts
The parsha of Noach brings to a close the 11 chapters that precede the call to Abraham, and the beginning of the special relationship between him, his descendants, and...
Bereishit 5779: The Three Stages of Creation
“And God said, let there be… and there was… and God saw that it was good.” Thus unfolds the most revolutionary, as well as the...
Parshat Vezot Habracha: If We Can’t Get There Ourselves, We Can Help Others Do So
Each year, as we near the end of the Mosaic books and Moses’ life, I find myself asking: Did it really have to end that...
Parsha Ha’azinu 5779: The Need for Emotional Intelligence
In March 2015, I had a public conversation at Yale with the university’s president, Peter Salovey. The occasion was quite an emotional one. It celebrated...
Vayelech 5779: The Second Mountain You Must Climb
What do you do when you have achieved it all, when you have risen to whatever career heights that fate or providence has in store...
Parshat Nitzavim: The World Is Waiting for You to Act
Something remarkable happens in this week’s parsha, almost without our noticing it, which changed the very terms of Jewish existence and has life-changing implications for...
The Story We Tell
The setting: Jerusalem some 20 centuries ago. The occasion: bringing first fruits to the Temple. Here is the scene as the Mishnah describes it: Throughout...
Parsha Ki Teitse: Why We Must Aid Strangers as Well as Friends
Many years ago, Elaine and I were being driven to the Catskills, a long-time favorite summer getaway for Jews in New York, and our driver...
Parshat Shoftim: To Lead Is to Serve
Parshat Shoftim talks about monarchy: “When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken possession of it and...
