‘A light unto this nation’. Ex-Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks dies at 72
RABBI Lord Jonathan Sacks, who died yesterday from cancer aged 72, was praised last night as a towering figure in British public life.
The former Chief Rabbi was hailed as one of the leading public intellectuals of his time, as tributes poured in from political and religious leaders.
Lord Sacks, who was the Orthodox Chief Rabbi from 1991 until 2013, was described by the Prince of Wales as ‘a light unto this nation’.
Prince Charles paid the tribute to Lord Sacks at a dinner in 2013, two months before his retirement as Chief Rabbi. The Prince said: ‘Your guidance on any given issue has never failed to be of practical value and deeply grounded in the kind of wisdom that is increasingly hard to come by.’
Lord Sacks’s frequent broadcasts on Radio 4’s Today programme and his numerous newspaper articles ensured his views found a wide audience. He was knighted in 2005 and made a life peer in 2009.
Boris Johnson said he was ‘deeply saddened’ by his death, adding: ‘His leadership had a profound impact on our whole country and across the world. My sincere condolences to his family, friends and the Jewish community. May his memory be a blessing.
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said: ‘He was a towering intellect whose eloquence, insights and kindness reached well beyond the Jewish community.’
Current Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said the world had lost a ‘Torah luminary and intellectual giant who had a transformative global impact’.
‘Rabbi Lord Sacks was an extraordinary ambassador for Judaism, helping many to understand and be proud of their heritage,’ he added.
‘He will be deeply missed, not just within the Jewish world – which benefited immeasurably from his teachings – but far more widely, by all those whose lives he enlightened with his wisdom, profundity and inspiration.’
In 2016, Lord Sacks, an author of 30 books, was awarded the Templeton Prize, which honours people who explore the deepest questions of human existence. This was in recognition of his ‘exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension’.
The respect and admiration he commanded globally was summed up by Rabbi Abraham Levy, emeritus spiritual head of London’s Sephardi community, who described him as ‘Chief Rabbi to the English-speaking world’.
Board of Deputies of British Jews President Marie van der Zyl described Lord Sacks as a ‘giant of both the Jewish community and wider society’. ‘His astounding intellect and courageous moral voice were a blessing to all who encountered him in person, in writing or in broadcast,’ she said.
Lord Sacks’s death on Saturday morning was announced after the end of Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, because Orthodox Jews do not use the internet or phones during the 24 hours between sunset on Friday and sunset on Saturday.
He was diagnosed with cancer last month. It was his third bout with the disease.