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| The chief rabbi's mistakes and Judaism's guiding principle | The chief rabbi's mistakes and Judaism's guiding principle |
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| Your editorial (August 26) regarding the failure of the retiring chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, to address issues of diversity within the Jewish community highlights the challenge faced by any leader seeking to represent the diversity of views, religious or otherwise, in our increasingly fragmented society. It also points to a breach of one of the most fundamental teachings of the tradition that Lord Sacks claims to have represented for more than two decades. At the heart of the Torah is the oft-(mis-)quoted 2,500-year-old obligation to "love your neighbour as you love yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). The difficulty of fulfilling that commandment was recognised half a millennium later by Rabbi Hillel, one of Judaism's most compassionate teachers and leaders. He turned it around, suggesting that Judaism's key teaching could be summarised as "What is hateful to you, do not do to another." | Your editorial (August 26) regarding the failure of the retiring chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, to address issues of diversity within the Jewish community highlights the challenge faced by any leader seeking to represent the diversity of views, religious or otherwise, in our increasingly fragmented society. It also points to a breach of one of the most fundamental teachings of the tradition that Lord Sacks claims to have represented for more than two decades. At the heart of the Torah is the oft-(mis-)quoted 2,500-year-old obligation to "love your neighbour as you love yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). The difficulty of fulfilling that commandment was recognised half a millennium later by Rabbi Hillel, one of Judaism's most compassionate teachers and leaders. He turned it around, suggesting that Judaism's key teaching could be summarised as "What is hateful to you, do not do to another." |
| That is a guiding principle that would do well to be placed at the top of the manifesto of any would-be leader, whomever or whatever they purport to represent. Its absence from the language, attitude and behaviour of so many who claim to speak on behalf of the many diverse interests and groups in our world, Jewish or otherwise, bodes ill for the future of the human race that, in so many areas of its precarious existence, cries out for compassionate and visionary leadership. Rabbi Pete Tobias The Liberal Synagogue Elstree | That is a guiding principle that would do well to be placed at the top of the manifesto of any would-be leader, whomever or whatever they purport to represent. Its absence from the language, attitude and behaviour of so many who claim to speak on behalf of the many diverse interests and groups in our world, Jewish or otherwise, bodes ill for the future of the human race that, in so many areas of its precarious existence, cries out for compassionate and visionary leadership. Rabbi Pete Tobias The Liberal Synagogue Elstree |
| • Lord Sacks has a lot more to explain than "why the dignity of difference does not also mean the dignity of diversity". On Sunday he told the BBC that society is "losing the plot" as it becomes more secular. And in a 15 June Spectator article he wrote: "Unless we rediscover religion, our civilisation is in peril." But which religion? Remarkably, given that he has "no desire to convert others to [his] religious beliefs", it appears any is preferable to secularism, even though adherence to Christianity or Islam implies ipso facto that all preceding faiths are no longer The Way. He must also explain why it is only since the Enlightenment that we have seen the abolition of slavery and child labour, the establishment of universal education, healthcare and social security, and the drafting of anti-discrimination legislation – none of which were present as recently as 500 years ago when the only secularists around were either in the closet or being burnt at the stake. Simon Platman London | • Lord Sacks has a lot more to explain than "why the dignity of difference does not also mean the dignity of diversity". On Sunday he told the BBC that society is "losing the plot" as it becomes more secular. And in a 15 June Spectator article he wrote: "Unless we rediscover religion, our civilisation is in peril." But which religion? Remarkably, given that he has "no desire to convert others to [his] religious beliefs", it appears any is preferable to secularism, even though adherence to Christianity or Islam implies ipso facto that all preceding faiths are no longer The Way. He must also explain why it is only since the Enlightenment that we have seen the abolition of slavery and child labour, the establishment of universal education, healthcare and social security, and the drafting of anti-discrimination legislation – none of which were present as recently as 500 years ago when the only secularists around were either in the closet or being burnt at the stake. Simon Platman London |
| • Anyone in the same job for over 20 years will make mistakes, how much more so in a role as closely scrutinised as chief rabbi. Sacks has acknowledged remorse for the Gryn affairs of 1996. His appeal is to Jews beyond his home constituency of the Orthodox United Synagogue, across the religious spectrum. Many Jews, whether they go to an Orthodox, Reform or other synagogue, have been lifted by his pronouncements on the public stage, such as Thought for the Day on the BBC. Beyond the Jewish community, he has been a powerful voice in inter-faith relations, some would say the leading figure. He became the first chief rabbi to address the Lambeth conference, in 2008, and has also become a brilliant exponent of faith on the national and international stage. His intellectual open-mindedness has attracted a very diverse following. Your negative editorial did not reflect all his fantastic accomplishments over 22 years. Maurice Ostro London | • Anyone in the same job for over 20 years will make mistakes, how much more so in a role as closely scrutinised as chief rabbi. Sacks has acknowledged remorse for the Gryn affairs of 1996. His appeal is to Jews beyond his home constituency of the Orthodox United Synagogue, across the religious spectrum. Many Jews, whether they go to an Orthodox, Reform or other synagogue, have been lifted by his pronouncements on the public stage, such as Thought for the Day on the BBC. Beyond the Jewish community, he has been a powerful voice in inter-faith relations, some would say the leading figure. He became the first chief rabbi to address the Lambeth conference, in 2008, and has also become a brilliant exponent of faith on the national and international stage. His intellectual open-mindedness has attracted a very diverse following. Your negative editorial did not reflect all his fantastic accomplishments over 22 years. Maurice Ostro London |
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