…Genesis 18, parshat Vayera: “Ki yedativ,” says God. “I have chosen him – lema’ann asher yatzaveh et-banav v’et-bayto acharav – so that he will instruct his children and his household after him.” Abraham was chosen not just because he was righteous like Noah, or a fighter for justice like Moses. He was chosen to be a parent. That is what…
…Lecha Vayera Chayei Sarah Toldot Vayetse Vayishlach Vayeshev Mikketz Vayigash Vayechi Shemot (Exodus) The book of Exodus – Shemot – is the West’s meta-narrative of hope. It tells an astonishing story of how a group of slaves were liberated from the mightiest empire of the ancient world. Theologically, its message is even more revolutionary: the supreme power intervenes in history…
I believe that Abraham taught us that faith is not certainty; it is the courage to live with uncertainty. He had negative capability. He knew the promises would come true; he could live with the uncertainty of not knowing how or when….
He was 137 years old. He had been through two traumatic events involving the people most precious to him in the world. The first involved the son for whom he had waited for a lifetime, Isaac. He and Sarah had given up hope, yet God told them both that they would have a son together, and it would be he…
It is the space we create for one another that allows love to be like sunlight to a flower, not like a tree to the plants that grow beneath….
A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible I Believe is a personal and intimate demonstration of how Rabbi Sacks came to see the world through listening attentively to the Torah and its message for the present and all times. This book is the last instalment of the Covenant & Conversation series of themed books, written by Rabbi Sacks on the…
First separate, then connect; it is the carefully calibrated distance that allows us to grow as individuals and create stronger relationships together….
Nothing great and transformative happens overnight in the human world….
We honour God by honouring His image: humankind….
One cannot worship impersonal forces and remain a person; compassionate, humane, generous, forgiving. Precisely because we believe that God is personal, someone to whom we can say “You,” we honour human dignity as sacrosanct. Abraham, father of monotheism, knew the paradoxical truth that to live the life of faith is to see the trace of God in the face of…