Sparks of Hope
To be a Jew is to be an agent of hope. Every ritual, every command, every syllable of the Jewish story is a protest against escapism, resignation and the blind acceptance of fate.
Judaism, the religion of the free God, is a religion of freedom. Jewish faith is written in the future tense. It is belief in a future that is not yet but could be, if we heed God’s call, obey His will and act together as a covenantal community. The name of the Jewish future is hope.
In these challenging times for Israel and the Jewish people, Rabbi Sacks’ words emerge as sparks of hope, illuminating our path through the complexities of our times with insight, faith, and a profound understanding of the unbreakable Jewish spirit.
These quotes can be used to engage and inspire your students at the beginning of the day or the opening of a lesson. They provide an excellent foundation for group discussions about students’ thoughts, feelings and experiences at this testing time.
Educators worldwide have prepared short videos with further insights on each quote. These learning materials are suitable for upper primary schools, high schools, and youth groups.
SPARK ONE
With commentary from Rabbi Cobi Ebrahimoff, UK Director of Education, The Rabbi Sacks Legacy
“The Hebrew word for ‘crisis’ is mashber, which also means a birthing-stool. In Hebrew, crises are not just opportunities; they are birthpangs. Something new is being born.
That’s why Jews have survived every crisis in 4,000 years and emerged even stronger than they were before.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK TWO
With commentary from Rabbi Jeremy Bruce, Executive Director, North America, The Rabbi Sacks Legacy
“Faith is not certainty. It is the courage to live with uncertainty.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK THREE
With commentary from Elianna Mitnick, Judaic Studies Teacher, SAR High School, New York
“Crisis forces us to make difficult but necessary decisions. It makes us ask, ‘Who am I and what really matters to me?’ It plunges us from the surface to the depths, where we discover strengths we didn’t know we had and a clarity of purpose we had previously lacked. So you have to say to every crisis, ‘I will not let you go until you bless me.’” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK FOUR
With commentary from Kate Milgrom, Judaic Studies Teacher, Donna Klein Jewish Academy, Florida
“More than hate destroys the hated, it destroys the hater.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK FIVE
With commentary from Rabbi Udi Dvorkin, Faculty, Torah V'Chochmah Program
“All of us are, in some sense, survivors. To be a Jew is to carry the burden of memory without letting it rob us of hope and faith in the possibility of a world at peace.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK SIX
With commentary from Aliza Joel, Judaic Studies Teacher, Fuchs Mizrachi School, Cleveland
“It happened at the beginning of the Gulf War in January 1991... Perhaps the only time in history that a country has been under missile attack, and yet people have continued to travel there, seeking to make it their home.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK SEVEN
With commentary from Rabbi Gal Ben Meir, Head of Kodesh, The King Solomon School, Israel
“Jewish life cannot be sustained without Israel at its core. That was true for nineteen hundred years when there was no Jewish state. It is no less true now that the state exists.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK EIGHT
With commentary from Rabbi Michael Laitner, Head of Research, The Rabbi Sacks Legacy
“It was then [in 1967] that I knew that being Jewish was not something private and personal but something collective and historical. It meant being part of an extended family, many of whose members I did not know, but to whom I nonetheless felt connected by bonds of kinship and responsibility.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK NINE
“Those who sought to destroy the people of the covenant gather dust in the museums of mankind while Am Yisrael Chai, the people of Israel live.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK TEN
“This is the moment when the prayers of all Jews – like a single person with a single heart – are with the people of Israel in the land of Israel, the people and the land that gives us so much strength and pride.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK ELEVEN
“Despair is not a Jewish emotion. Od lo avda tikvateinu: our hope, we say, has never been destroyed.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK TWELVE
With commentary from Yolande Pieters, Faculty, Torah V'Chochmah Program
“There is a Jewish way of telling the story of our situation... What happens is not chance but a chapter in the complex script of the covenant which leads, mysteriously but assuredly, to our redemption.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK THIRTEEN
With commentary from Rabbi Chaim Leizorek, Judaic Principal, Colegio Hebreo Maguen David, Mexico
“Crisis in Jewish history has always led to renewal, not despair. So it must be now.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK FOURTEEN
With commentary from Rabbi Daniel Salter, Head of Jewish Studies, Hebrew Academy of Montreal
“Weapons win wars, but it takes ideas to win the peace.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK FIFTEEN
With commentary from Rabbi Eli Broner, Judaic Studies Teacher, Shalhevet High School, California
“Some people look down at Jews: they always have. In which case, we have to walk tall, so that, to see our face, they are forced to look up.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK SIXTEEN
With commentary from Dr. Roi Horen, Head of Kodesh, King David School Liverpool, UK
“In Israel, Jewish life is a community of fate. There Jews, from the most secular to the most pious, suffer equally from war and terror, and benefit equally from prosperity and peace.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK SEVENTEEN
With commentary from Danielle Druck, Judaic Studies Teacher, The Frisch School, New Jersey
“Hard times remind us of what good times tend to make us forget… That’s why hard times are the best times to plant the seeds of future happiness.” - Rabbi Sacks
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SPARK EIGHTEEN
“What terrorists seek to destroy, we will continue to build: community, democracy, tolerance, respect for each other and for the sanctity of life.” - Rabbi Sacks
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