Gala Tribute Dinner for Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks
On 24th June 2013, the British Jewish community held a gala tribute dinner in Central London in honour of the Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks.
In front of an audience of over 800 attendees including representative from across the Jewish community as well as parliamentarians and other high profile individuals from wider British society, the guest of honour His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales described the Chief Rabbi as “a light unto this nation” who was a “steadfast friend” and “valued adviser” whose “guidance on any issue has never failed to be of practical value and deeply grounded in the kind of wisdom that is increasingly hard to come by.”
In a series of video messages, Prime Minister David Cameron praised “the impact [the Chief Rabbi] has had on this country far beyond the Jewish community. Because over the past two decades you have been not just a leader for Jewish people but for all of us.” Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked how do you sum up someone “who is the greatest scholar you know, the greatest philosopher, the greatest writer you know, one of the greatest thinkers in the world. It’s this, that he was always and has always been ahead of his time.” The former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams described the Chief Rabbi as “a national treasure”, and former Prime Minister Tony Blair said the Chief Rabbi was “an intellectual giant”.