Our Faith and Our Future

0:03 Good evening everyone. It was probably one

0:11 of the lowest moments in my religious journey. I was a graduate student at the

0:20 time, being trained to question just

0:25 about everything that had once been taught. It was sacred a time where I could

0:31 feel the insidious bites of cynicism eating away at my soul

0:38 it was Rosh Hashanah night and I was sitting in shul with the master open in

0:43front of me but my heart and my mind in a very different place

0:50fortunately for me next to my open master was a stack of papers seven

0:57lectures on faith there have been transcribed and a friend

1:03of mine had printed up for me (given not

1:08too long before then by the then chief rabbi of England, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks)

1:14 By a time Rosh Hashanah was over I had read all seven and by the time Yom Kippur of that year was complete I had read

1:21them all again. It would be disingenuous to tell you that I found all the answers

1:29to my questions in those seven lectures on faith, however

1:36what I did realize is that Yamim Noraim past was that I wasn't having a

1:43crisis of faith, I was suffering from a crisis of companionship. I noted then

1:52that I so desperately needed to hear from somebody else who was rooted in the

1:59world of Torah and mitzvot unequivocally connected to the world of traduced

2:06traditional Judaism but unabashedly engaging with the world around us I

2:13needed to be reminded that as a traditional Jew in a modern world our

2:19stance need not always be one of defense of cowering of fear but that armed with

2:30the confidence of one who knows that they have a contribution to make to the world traditional Jews can go forth and

2:39change the world for the better I needed to be reminded of what we could

2:46do for both humankind and for human history it is therefore a distinct pleasure for me this evening to welcome

2:54all of you here to qohelet yeshiva high school to listen in to a conversation that will begin in a few moments between

3:01two people who have become companions to me rabbi Tristan NCI our rosh beit midrash

3:09who is my companion in leading and thinking about the religious welfare of

3:15our school and our school community and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who albeit

3:22unknowingly became a companion for me on that fateful Rosh Hashanah night, a

3:28companion for life. Before we begin I

3:34just wanted to note my appreciation for

3:39those who made this evening possible through their vision commitment and hard work certainly first and foremost of its

3:47least intense key the leader of our baked timid rash who worked tirelessly to make sure that this evening went off

3:53as well as it has to this point as well as I know that it will please join me in

4:00giving a round of applause as well to Devora and Adamam Stallman for their incredible work in sharing this

4:06evening's event

4:12our office staff Judy Serena you unfortunately can't be here this evening teri Sutton Kravitz

4:19and many others have likewise put in tremendous effort to make sure that

4:24every detail went well and we are deeply grateful and of course I could not begin

4:31this evening without expressing both on a personal level and on an institutional level my gratitude to David and Deborah

4:39magaman whose breathtaking generosity not only ensures that Jewish children

4:47throughout the Greater Philadelphia area can receive a high-quality Jewish

4:53education but who are also in the midst of ensuring that Jews across the globe

4:58can and will continue to learn from the wisdom of rabbi sacks David Debra thank

5:04you I also wanted to note this evening the

5:12presence of so many of our communal Rabbanim who have come to join us my fellow heads of school from

5:19throughout the Greater Philadelphia area it is so wonderful for us to gather together for these types of events I

5:25wanted to note the presence of the lay and professional leadership of the Jewish Federation of Greater

5:31Philadelphia who were here with us this evening as well I wanted to note the presence of Holly cone and my colleagues

5:37at the qohelet foundation and all their work they do on behalf of the Jewish community I also wanted to note a great

5:45friend of qohelet and the qohelet community professor RJ Snell of the Agora Institute of Eastern University

5:51who is here with us this evening and certainly last but not least of lady

5:57Saks who has joined her husband here on his visit to Philadelphia with all that

6:03said though at the end of the day my deepest gratitude goes to my administrative staff here at qohelet

6:09yeshiva high school to the faculty who each and every day ensure that the

6:15unique mission the ideals the ideas and the value for which rabbi Sachs has worked so

6:24tirelessly to which he has dedicated his illustrious career come alive each and

6:31every day in the classrooms of this very special school in the hallways and the

6:38conversations that happened between an engaged student body and a passionate

6:43faculty between the conversations that happen amongst the students themselves

6:48the dreams that they dream the visions that they have for themselves all of which follow that very model that

6:54I encountered so many years ago of a rootedness in who we are and who we've

7:00been and a courage and a confidence to

7:05go out and bring that message to the rest of the world so it's a pleasure for

7:11me this evening in order to formally introduce our program to introduce to

7:16you to to one of those students Rebecca Mandela 12th grader who in a

7:23short period of time will be taking the lessons she learned here the lessons she learned at home in Cherry Hill and got a

7:30willing trying to make the world of Princeton Princeton University that much

7:35better of a place by taking that which we all hold so dear bringing it to the

7:41rest of the world in the way that rabbi sacks has taught us so please a round of applause for Rebecca Rebecca Mendell

7:47[Applause]

7:55Thank You rabbi pearl good evening everyone I would like to welcome and thank Rabbi

8:01Lord Jonathan Sacks for joining us tonight over the course of his life rabbi sacks has written numerous

8:07articles and books that have inspired and enlightened many of us and that I personally have really enjoyed in one of

8:14his works a letter in the scroll rabbi sacks discusses Jewish identity and explores the ways in which Judaism has

8:20not only survived but prospered despite adversity while reading the book I came

8:26across a section on education that I found to be particularly meaningful rabbi sacks writes Judaism is a religion

8:33of continuity it depends for its very existence on the willingness of successive generations to

8:39hand on their faith and way of life to their children and on the loyalty of the children to the heritage of their past

8:45thus preserving Judaism is a two part responsibility it requires parents to pass down the

8:52Jewish tradition and children to accept the beliefs and practices of their parents when both parents and children

8:59willingly work towards the same goal Judaism can continue to flourish in the

9:04words of Rabbi Sacks a people achieves immortality not by building temples or mausoleums but by engraving their values

9:11on the hearts of their children if every child learns in lives by the Jewish

9:17values of his ancestors the Jewish nation can live on forever education therefore is the key to immortality

9:23our parents are obviously instrumental in fulfilling the first part of this responsibility as they send us to Jewish

9:30day school at coachella we are taught the timeless values of Judaism and then

9:35how to live and uphold these Jewish principles in the modern worlds qohelet enables our faith to continue by as

9:42there are by sac States and grieving these values in our hearts so that we the children can hopefully accept

9:48maintain and carry on our traditions for future generations tonight we are fortunate enough to

9:54welcomeRabbi Sacks to our community this evening will feature a conversation between Rabbi Sacks and rabbi Stein

10:00etske to individuals who have dedicated themselves to education in order to perpetuate Judaism rabbits visa and ski

10:08serves as our rosh beit midrash and has spearheaded countless creative community education opportunities for our students

10:15families and the wider community he is a role model to the students of qohelet and a well respected teacher in our Limu

10:22dakota faculty department rabbi Sinan ski please join me on the stage Rabbi

10:37Lord Jonathan Sacks is a global religious leader philosopher and moral voice for our time he has been a

10:44visiting professor at several universities in Britain the United States and Israel currently he serves as

10:51the professor of Jewish thought at Yeshiva University and professor of Judaic thought at New York University he

10:58is also the professor of law ethics and Bible at King's College London previously Rabbi Sacks served for 22

11:05years as chief rabbi of the United Hebrew congregations of the Commonwealth he holds 16 honorary degrees and was

11:12knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in 2005 and made a life peer taking his

11:18seat in the House of Lords in October 2009 described by the Prince of Wales as

11:23a light on to this nation and by former Prime Minister Tony Blair as an intellectual giant Rabbi Sacks is a

11:31frequent contributor to radio television and the press both in Britain and around the world

11:36here at Kohala he is definitely a favorite we have read and discussed many of his works and last time he came to

11:43this region many of us went to hear him speak the author of 25 books Rabbi Sacks

11:48has published commentaries on the daily seed or as well as ma zouri the macker man uh needs to feel a seed

11:55or a prayer book that we use daily at Kohelet features Rabbi Sacks' translation. A number of his other books have one

12:02literary awards including the book I mentioned earlier a letter in the scroll his covenant and conversation

12:08commentaries on the weekly Torah portion are read by thousands of people in Jewish communities around the world it

12:14is my honor to ask Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks to please join me on the stage

12:20[Applause]

12:41very bright yeah every sex I wanted to open this evening

12:49you mentioned the opportunity here you speak already a few times in particular

12:55to students and the topic of faith topic of Emunah belief which is obviously so

13:04crucial and like to to open it up in the following way first of all I think it's occasioned by your title which I think

13:11raises perhaps some knotty theological questions I think in terms of monotheism and so on and so forth rabbi Lord says

13:18but that perhaps will be for for another occasion but more than that obviously in

13:24that in a serious vein there are challenges to faith there are challenges to emunah not just that are universal

13:31but I think that are particular to this generation on the one hand we have from outside our community a virulent strain

13:39of the New Atheists individuals such as Dawkins with whom you've you've had

13:44conversations Hawking that entire school of thought recent fundamental questions

13:50but in a very aggressive sort of way chipping away the basics of our faith of our Emunah even within our community

13:57there are individuals starting to ask questions questions from within the

14:03Orthodox community about the historicity of events such as the Exodus such as the

14:09revelation of Sinai even within our own Worth adopts community within the Jewish community of believers there are

14:16questions that are being raised about these core issues of Emma now so we have both with from without the community

14:22within the community these questions that are being raised and then at the same time we have an opposite trend

14:28perhaps even some would say equal and opposite trends of those who are moving

14:34toward a greater fundamentalism fundamentalism with regard to not just religious violence and extremism but

14:39even with regard to matters of interpretation of Scripture how it is that we are to understand evolution the

14:45age of the universe and so on and so forth so sometimes it almost feels that we're caught in between on the one hand we have those shipping away and

14:51undermining raising difficult questions about faith on the other hand those who take faith to extremes that

14:57perhaps were uncomfortable with how do we find that middle path what is that that place of moderate but authentic

15:04faith that we can really use to get us through this is really really impressive

15:16thank you the almighty used one of these at Sinai on everyone

15:24Ozma Coleridge Godot could we kind of turn this down a little bit the trick

15:31might we use birthday ever gets through it it seems really good I like it should

15:37I do some more God imitations well first

15:43of all let me say what a privilege it is to be in this extraordinary extraordinary school this is a school of

15:50great teachers great robe on him but of outstanding young people who are going

15:56to bring pride and credit to the Jewish people so I just want to hear a round of

16:01applause from the parents for the incredible children and for the wonderful education

16:08[Applause]

16:14we're going to be really Marga Diane three weeks time are we going to ask the

16:21question of the Russia I don't want to call any Jewish child wicked let's coin

16:26challenging and he his question is marvered are has a lot happened

16:34what is this service mean to you now that Bahuguna understood that the

16:39critical word there was lehem what does this mean to you and he doesn't say what's it mean to me but if you look in

16:47the Talmud yarosh only according to the talmud dear show me his key word is of

16:53order the Talmud says the russia says ma t resort shalt emma tree of him that's

17:00mother why all this hard work you know that in the 1960s was the first

17:07generation of american women who went to college and in the 70s when they got

17:12married and they had kids somebody had the bright idea of doing an apron which

17:18were for this we went to college so i had a special apron made for a lame for

17:26pacer which were for this we left Egypt

17:33so what the Rashi is asking is Marvo desert wife my such hard work because

17:41the truth is our word our which is the Hebrew word for serving God is hard work

17:47and there are two groups of people today don't want that hard work some of them

17:53are secular and they don't want somebody to lift their eyes beyond the material

17:59but beyond the things we can experiment and quantify and demonstrate

18:05mathematical or scientific proofs for now most of the important things in life from art to beauty to music to virtue

18:12are not susceptible of scientific proof but they don't want the hard work of the

18:19stuff that needs you to grow up humanely so they don't want the hard

18:25workers faith they want an easy life in which everything that matters is reduced

18:30to a scientific equation on the other hand a completely different group of people very holy people don't want the

18:38hard work of making their Judaism applicable to the real world they say

18:45like the real world do its own thing we will go off and we'll have our own real world but without the real world out

18:52there that world in there couldn't exist are you with me if there weren't people

18:58out there building factories and economies and developing medicines and saving lives and all the rest of it

19:04there couldn't be a group of people who sit and only learn terror for all of their lives but they don't want the hard

19:11work of engaging with the world and the atheist don't want the hard work of engaging with faith now I say Marvo

19:19desert lehem faith just is hard work and the harder we work the bigger we become

19:25so I'm not bothered by the scientific atheist I love them dearly Richard

19:31Dawkins has become a great friend I said to Richard the BBC wanted me to do a

19:37series of conversations with Richard so I said I'll do it I'll do it if if I

19:48find he's a likable guy so we invited him round for dinner we had dinner with

19:54Richard Dawkins had a lot of our friends come along I don't think he'd ever met such high-powered intellectual people

20:01who were deeply believing Jews and he was a bit shaken by that and I said

20:07Richard you believe that Richard religion makes you stupid right he said yes exactly

20:12and I said Richard you follow the evidence wherever it leads isn't that right he said yes that's what makes me a

20:19scientist so said Richard what do you do with this evidence that we are less than one-fifth of 1% of the population of the

20:27world and choose 126 percent of Nobel prizes in physics 27% of Nobel prizes in

20:34medicine 41% of Nobel Prizes in economics 40 9% of world chess masters and he paused

20:42for a moment and he said you know what Jews must be different which was quite

20:49nice really you know they've actually get a broker from Richard Dawkins is something special you know but don't

20:55happen every day and I believe that if you know the the world that is moved to

21:00the right fully understood just how much cosmology and neuroscience and so many

21:09other scientific discoveries their emerging day after day right now make so

21:15much more scientific sense so much more lucid sense of our Jewish beliefs and

21:21they really are we're going to see a big paradigm shift within the next 50 years because scientific experiment scientific

21:29discoveries are becoming more and more poetic as we go on into the 21st century

21:35discoveries of the plasticity of the brain and many other things discovery of

21:40epigenetics way people thought everything was determined by the genes it turns out that ever genetics is at

21:47least as powerful as genetics all of these things are very beautiful so I think I don't worry that people don't

21:54want the hard work but for us as Jews Judaism is hard work the harder you work

22:01the greater you become and that's why Judaism is such hard work and why does

22:07produce such great people the question of faith so many of our students ask the

22:14question how do we prove and what can we prove in let's let's try to prove the

22:20existence of God and of course during the medieval period we know that many of the Rishon in the Rambam among so many

22:27others expended a tremendous amount of energy in the roms case he weaves it not only into his philosophical works the

22:33miranda book and the guide for the perplexed but even within his Halak a quirk of the very framework the introduction to his Mishnah torah he

22:39begins with fundamentals of faith you said how you said out and so on and so forth and he continues with essentially

22:45an Aristotelian proof for the existence of God and do we believe our what we believe that without the ability to

22:52we prove the existence of God we cannot have faith is that a cynic went on for the believing Jew or do we believe that

22:59one can indeed have faith without an absolute proof Sarika cohen of Blin who

23:05said that every day we have to be mahadesh producing we have to deliver

23:10new insights into Torah because God is Hama hottish butovo bahcall Jung my

23:19separation because God makes the universe anew every day and because

23:25Torah is a commentary on the universe so Tara has to become new every single day

23:32there's no doubt whatsoever that were Maimonides to come back to life today he

23:38would certainly rewrite his metaphysics although he wouldn't rewrite his

23:44psychology I mean the Rambam psychology holds up extraordinarily for a work over

23:52eight centuries old is absolutely extraordinary but he had a little too much faith in the Greeks actually

23:59because you know what what Darwin you

24:05know Darwin when he came up with his theory of natural selection lost his faith as a Christian but as I try and

24:13show in my book the great partnership what Darwin refuted was not religion

24:19what he refuted was the Aristotelian science on which the Christianity of his

24:26day was based Aristotle thought that teleology purpose is part of nature he

24:33called it the teleological cause and Darwin showed that Nature doesn't have

24:38teleology it doesn't think ahead Nature doesn't think err God thinks ad but

24:45Nature doesn't think ahead so in fact all he disproved was Aristotelian

24:51metaphysics and that means that it wasn't the Rambam I was disproved but I

24:58think today he would write the first four chapters of he'll has you say they are terrorists like me differently

25:05and can we substitute the ramen sauce with other proofs do we need proofs who

25:11is part of Aristotle's theory that you could prove purposes in nature yeah and

25:18I think it turns out that faith is more like art than science are you with me I

25:25mean trial it proved to me that Shakespeare's King Lear is better than

25:32whatever is running on Broadway today give me a knock down proof but if you

25:38don't know that Shakespeare's King Lear is greater than whatever is about to close on Broadway then you don't

25:44understand literature proved to me as I was saying that the kids before when

25:50asked me this question that it's better to have a life of love than a life of

25:56hate or it's better to have a life with music and without music prove to me that

26:02it's better to be an optimist than a pessimist you cannot prove any of these things with what would be knocked down

26:11scientific proofs but even the idea that you can prove a scientific proof scientific way has been well and truly

26:18refuted because we now know and this is both so-called poppers conjectures and

26:26refutations and and Thomas Kuhns the

26:32logic of the structure of scientific revolutions both of him were Jewish

26:37don't forget Karl Popper came from that line of rabbis that we say in every Tanis every seeing ruff from Bob papa

26:45sohe Barbosa called Bob Papa yeah he was one of us so as Thomas Kuhn and what

26:52they showed was that in fact science does not rest on the ability to prove so

27:00he at rests on the ability refute something because you can never prove that because the Sun rose a

27:06million times it's going to rise the million and first time that is Humes

27:12refutation of scientific proof so even scientific proof isn't really proof if

27:19you aren't really this strong proof you've got to go for a single more whiskey because that's the only really

27:25am unbreakable kind you can go for greed

27:31my if you're in my great partnership you will hear listen to i'm stein you will

27:37listen to Freud you will listen to the the the architects of quantum physics

27:42all saying categorically science rests on faith and I list all those quotes in

27:50the book so it's Richard Dawkins I think you miss characterizes science and gives

27:56us a view of science that has not been terrible it since David human than the 18th century since Charles Darwin in the

28:03nineteenth century or since Einstein in the 20th now that we have exhausted all

28:09matters relevant to faith I want to turn to as something a little bit different

28:15we actually entitled this evening our faith and our future which might have

28:20been plagiarized from you but but don't tell and one of the things that that we

28:26offered everyone the opportunity to do is to submit questions and it was fascinating received about fifty

28:32questions or so from from those who were here this evening from the from the audience there were wonderful questions

28:38and it was fascinating to see how many questions were less about faith and more

28:43about our future and in particular the question of her future in Europe and the

28:49anti-semitism that has been rising like a tidal wave each and every day really

28:55it feels like sometimes the question of whether or not there is a Jewish future in Europe what that looks like if you

29:02could speak to that I think that would be great I grew up among non Cheers

29:11I went to a non non Jewish universities

29:17I was exposed to the world and for at least the first 50 years of my life more

29:22than that I never experienced a single episode of anti-semitism the first time

29:29I encountered anti-semitism was around 2001 when our youngest daughter was at

29:36that time a student at the London School of Economics who had gone to an antique

29:41globalization rally which quickly turned into a tirade against America and

29:47against Israel and then against Jews and she came back with tears in her eyes and

29:55she said daddy they hate us that anti-semitism could appear in Britain in

30:02the 21st century something I never anticipated then Rebecca West the

30:09novelist said that having been through what they have been through Jews have an unsurprising all soul that

30:16was when I discovered that I have a surprise so I began to do the research

30:23this is 2001 2002 and from I remember

30:28the day very clearly 28th of February 2002 when I addressed British parliamentarians on the subject and I

30:36wrote a piece in the National Press the same day on the subject I sounded the warning for three or four years on the

30:42BBC in the national press I said this is coming we have to be prepared many

30:49members of my community or critical of this thing thought I was exaggerating I knew I was understating because I'd done

30:56the research and I could see what was coming and you know it's it's been quite

31:02serious serious to the point in which in May 2007 I had the opportunity of

31:09addressing together they were sitting together and not much further than we are now the three leaders of Europe Angela

31:17Merkel of Germany who is chairing the European Union Hance Jose Manuel Barroso

31:24the head of the European Union and hands kept uttering the head of the European strands Parliament in Strasbourg and I

31:31said Jews new Europe go back a long way and that experience added certain words to the human vocabulary words like

31:38expulsion forced conversion disputation inquisition altered fa ghetto and pogrom

31:46our worst of all Holocaust I said all of that is in the past we we will live with

31:52that past but today the Jews of Europe are asking is there a future for Jews in

31:58Europe and that should concern you the leaders of Europe well I'd hit them between the eyes I

32:04don't think anyone had been that blunt with them and that weighs just under eight years ago so they have known this

32:12for a long time the British Parliament it's known it for a longer time and it's very challenging and it's very

32:19disturbing because let me make this absolutely clear the hate that begins

32:25with Jews never ends with Jews and therefore if it isn't safe to be a Jew

32:33in Europe it will not be safe to be a human being in Europe if the forces at

32:40work promoting this anti-semitism come to power than European freedom the dream

32:49of the whole of Europe will go up in flames and if it becomes the case that

32:56it is no longer safe for Jews to live in Europe within living memory of the

33:01Holocaust there will be a stain on Europe's soul on its moral reputation

33:07that will never be cleansed as long as human beings want this earth now I doubt

33:14that there's a serious political leader in Europe who's not aware of this and

33:20therefore I have to salute the British Prime Minister's who have led the fight against anti-semitism Tony

33:27Blair Gordon Brown David Cameron every one of them has got up in public and

33:33said at my request that you idea but they completely completely are bored on

33:38this that Jews will never have to fight anti-semitism alone because this is my

33:45constant cry I said this in the European Union headquarters in 2003 Jews cannot

33:52fight anti-semitism alone the victim cannot cure the crime the hated cannot

33:59cure late and therefore the fight against anti-semitism must be led by the

34:05political leadership of Europe a right now it's the moral credibility of Europe

34:10that's on the line therefore we have to win this battle there's no choice there

34:15no choice for us there's no choice for Europe but I think we will see in

34:20retrospect that what happens this year earlier this year in Paris and in

34:26Copenhagen will be a turning point because there were attacks on Jews before but this time people clearly saw

34:33that the people attacking freedom of speech in Paris and in Copenhagen other

34:39people who want to kill Jews rock monoliths lon in Paris and Copenhagen so not only is

34:46the Jewish future at stake the freedom of Europe is at stake and it is the case

34:51sadly that even in the 21st century we have some enemies but we also have

34:57friends and some good and loyal France and we must make sure that we stand

35:02together with those friends to fight anti-semitism to defeat anti-semitism

35:08for the sake of the Jewish future and for the sake of the future of Europe

35:14we're here in North America and it's certainly we don't account we're very

35:22fortunate and that we certainly don't encounter anything of the scale that you're struggling with and that the European Community community

35:29seemed there and yet sometimes for me and for some others that that I speak to there's almost a sense that for that

35:36reason there's little that we can do I'm wondering if you think that's the case what can we do sitting here in order you

35:42mentioned in terms of fighting anti-semitism together with allies do we need to be working more with other faith

35:48communities with other parts of the you know that do you know how many of us

35:53there are not many and I was thinking most of them are in the room right now I mean we're a tiny little people maybe

36:03twelve thirty million Jews can year boo in the world but all you have to do I

36:08decided I did my arithmetic about 13 years ago and I worked out all Jews have

36:13to do is make three friends in the next generation number one India which feels very much

36:23is threatened by radical Islam as we do they're living mixed together living

36:29next door to a nuclear-armed Pakistan China the reason I mentioned India and

36:37China is that there are over a billion

36:42Indians and there over a billion Chinese that's a lot of Chinese I have to say

36:49when I first became chief rabbis somebody realized I was going to be traveling the world and they gave me a world directory of Jewish communities

36:56and in 1990 the day this book was published they listed the the the

37:03populations of each of these countries and then the Jewish populations of each of these countries so although it would

37:09be completely different today in 1990 the right the entry for China Red China

37:16population 1 billion Jewish population 5

37:22I said to Elena if they're five Jews in China I can guarantee you two things number one they're six Shoals and number

37:31two someone somewhere is saying the Jews are running the country so why do I say

37:39India and China because India and China to the to civilize in the world to world

37:45civilizations that are as old as Judaism they're both over 4,000 years old and

37:52neither has any history of anti-semitism so we're talking about two major

37:59potential allies the other major potential ally is the Catholic Church

38:05which has done chuhwa after the Holocaust process began by pope john

38:11xxiii continued by Paul the sixth and then John Paul the second and Benedict

38:16the sixteenth but the current Pope Francis Francis the first is the best of

38:22them all you said positive things about Jews and Judaism that no Pope in history

38:28has said and there are 1.2 billion Catholics in the world add 1.2 billion

38:35Catholics 1.2 billion Indians 1.1 billion Chinese you make three friends

38:41you've got one half of the world global population so let's go out and make a

38:46few friends you know invite them into the school giving them a nice meal and Zug Allah I am and one way or another

38:53but I think we have got to go out and

38:58make those friends they're Jews I know who believe that it is our destiny to be

39:04unloved or that you scorn the people that dwells alone for me that is pity Avadh not war huh tequila that may have

39:10been our fate in the past it is not our destiny in the future so let us go out there and tell the people on UCLA and

39:18Berkeley campus and Cornell and Columbia guys if you see Jews intimidated today

39:25you will see Christians intimidated tomorrow so let's stand and fight the people who

39:31want to fight freedom I wanted to follow up with regard to the anti-semitism a conversation with a

39:38question about Aliyah for for European Jews in terms of fleeing and I'm going

39:45to share a summary of a position that that you took with regard to that matter

39:51and I wanted to impress you a little bit about her to ask about it here's here's

39:56a way that it was summarized in a recent interview right here from the Philadelphia exponent a local newspaper

40:04and and the ran is follows Rabbi Sacks strongly rejected Israeli Prime Minister

40:09Benjamin Netanyahu's appeal to European Jews made repeatedly in the wake of the recent attacks for them to come home he

40:17concurred with the chief rabbis of France and Denmark whose rejection of that appeal he said was both dignified

40:22and correct intimidating Jews into leaving Europe is precisely what the anti-semites want and that is why we

40:29will not give it to them and I want to ask about this it was so striking to

40:35read this and to hear this and I felt so torn upon reading this passage on the

40:42one hand the sense of the dignity of those of those community is not cowing to anti-semitism fighting exactly this

40:49fight built on built on hope and and optimism for what we could bring

40:55together with other partners for the future and yet at the same time as a religious Zionist Jew the commitment to

41:01alia the belief in rish it's me at Google at a new in the sense that it is indeed very much our destiny to be there

41:08and so I'm wondering how we balance to Israel has changed the world for every

41:14single Jew that is the single most important thing that differentiates anti-semitism now from anti-semitism

41:21then in 1938 the world knew that Hitler

41:27was planning a catastrophe for the Jews they knew it he'd been absolutely upfront about it in his broadcast

41:34speeches his public addresses everyone knew it and in 1938 the nations of the

41:40world the nation of the free world came together in the French spa town of Evian to decide what

41:46to do to save Jews from this catastrophe not one country in the world open its

41:53doors to the Jews and I say this shamefacedly as an Englishman and you as

41:58an American neither England nor America the great fighters for freedom the people who won

42:04the Second World War they themselves would not open the door to Jews and Jews

42:10knew that over the whole surface of this planet of this wide earth they did not

42:17have one a square inch that they could have call home in the Robert Frost sense

42:22of the word as the place where you have to when you have to go there they have to let you in Israel is home it is the

42:30home for all of us it is the home of the Jewish heart and therefore because of

42:35Israel life in Israel but life in hoods Lawrence is not what it was in 1938 but

42:42just because there is in Israel we can stand up to anti-semitism in Europe without fear because we do have a home

42:51now do I feel that we should all go and live in Israel let me make it absolutely clear that when you live in Israel you

42:58are living in a country where the very language where the very landscape where the very stones speak Jewish history you

43:08cannot experience even in here our kodesh Philadelphia I mean you know as

43:14near to heaven as you get outside of Israel here is the home of American freedom of

43:20the Jubilee bow land of all the wonderful you know the correct gear

43:26served the Declaration of American Declaration of Independence and

43:31we're Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin's sad in the summer of 1776 it's great but you go to Israel that's

43:38where our people began that was where our people was born and where in our time our people has been reborn you go

43:46to Israel because that is where you live the fullest Jewish life of anywhere on

43:51earth nowhere else in 4000 years of history we have been to every country on earth we

43:58have lived under every fate known to nations no one did we have exercised

44:05that one basic right of any nation to create a society according to our ideals

44:12nowhere could we do that in 40 centuries except in Israel so I am a religious

44:19Zionist with all my heart but I don't let Islamist extremists or the far right

44:25or the far left drive me out of Europe and drive me to Israel simply because

44:31I'm afraid of my life I am not afraid of the anti-semites I really am not afraid

44:36so as far as they're concerned I stay and fight as far as Israel is concerned I will go there to live terror to

44:43breathe daran to teach terror so that there's nothing in what I said about

44:49European jury that's in any way darah gates from the fundamental beauty and

44:55imperative of valia but what a small

45:02group of radical extremists are trying to do is trying to deprive the Jews out

45:07of Europe and there's a good reason why they want to do that because they know so long as Jews are in the country the

45:14enemies of freedom have a fight on their hands and I'm not going to give them that victory that fast

45:22I wanted to change gears a little bit and to to bring to raise something to

45:29come a little bit closer to home for us as a community not too long not too long

45:35ago we experienced a pretty significant lack of a better term rabbinic scandal'

45:41a rabbinic scandal here with a prominent a prominent rabbi Modern Orthodox rabbi

45:48living in Washington DC very difficult circumstance and I wanted to express my

45:57sense as to what emerged from sort of the aftermath not just about a particular event with the particular

46:05rabbi but really in terms of what it means for us as a community and what I experienced and what I saw after what

46:12had happened was as a rabbi and as a religious leader in the community was

46:19really a sense that I got that at some point something had broken down or that

46:26not all was as well as perhaps we'd love it to be would like it to be in the relationship between the wider community

46:33and the religious leadership of our community there was just a level of the

46:38conversation that the degree of of concern about the need for transparency

46:45in rabbinic leadership which is of course it's really important but at the same time in that conversation I became

46:51afraid that somehow a chasm was being exposed that somehow there was a lack of

46:56a full and healthy relationship or as healthy as we'd like it between our community our religious leadership

47:02perhaps not just a religion or religious leadership but our institutional leadership as well what can we do in

47:08order to ensure healthy proper relationships between our communities

47:14and their leadership at the same time hmm you have a lacuna here in American

47:19jury it's a big problem let me tell you what would happen in Britain then I

47:25don't say that we're any better it's just that we're different in Britain you

47:30have something Chief Rabbi and what this means is that

47:39you have a kind of Court of Appeal are you with me stop if a congregation of

47:45lay leaders feel that robbing isn't listening to them they would come to me

47:52I would listen to them very carefully and I'd find a way of making sure that

47:58Rabbi heard what they were saying we would normally put a rabbi in to mentor

48:05the rabbi or mediate for the rabbi and vice versa if the lay leaders were

48:10giving the rabbi a very hard time again the rabbi concern would firm me up we'd

48:17listen we'd make inquiries and I would then go into the community and sit with

48:22his laypeople and work it through there is nobody who is able to mediate between

48:29the rabbi and the lay leadership of the synagogues in American synagogues very

48:35curious and then this makes it very hard for the rabbis step pretty much on their

48:41own and it makes it pretty hard for the lay leaders because what can they do when they have problems and the rabbi

48:48may not be listening what can they do other than the drastic thing of not renewing his contract so you know whole

48:57series of issues that have arisen in America have struck me very forcibly because every one of those issues we

49:05would have dealt with very fast indeed soon as the first you know inkling of a

49:11problem we would deal with that very very fast we never put things off we

49:17never hush things up and the result was we never had a case they came to the

49:24public press because everyone knew we dealt with these things we demanded high

49:30ethical standards of our lives we demanded higher ethical standards of our lay leaders and we mediated the

49:37relationship whenever it was fracturing and often it does fracture that's just life and you need somebody

49:44to mediate it now how you build that into the structure of American orthodoxy I don't know but it's clear and not from

49:53one case but from several cases that you need such a mediation such a Court of

49:59Appeal that stands outside the immediacy of that congregation and is able to

50:05mediate that this is a suggestion that we appointed Chief Rabbi of America and that sounds a little but not suggest

50:11such a thing you know I think you've got enough problems on your own and I have enough problems

50:16on my own I think I can have to live without it well if you haven't if you make an archbishop we Cantabria you

50:23probably but I have a chief rabbi as well but until you return to the English model I think probably America remains

50:30America and all the more beautiful for it tomorrow is is Election Day

50:40tomorrow's election day in in Israel I want to ask a question about Israel but

50:46really to ask it in a broader sense about community we and it's it's sort of

50:54related also it's a previous question in terms of building bridges and creating healthy relationships but really here

51:00I'm asking more globally really across our community is it pretty much every time it seems that an Israeli election

51:06comes comes about so let's say every was that year and a half or so we

51:12experienced I think unfortunately I think both a highlighting as well as sort of a reinforcing of the divisions

51:19of society every time it seems that there's an Israeli election coming up the vitriol the just the the negative

51:27energy in the air people are are really gasping for something more spiritual something far more meaningful because it

51:35really is so painful and it really is a very difficult time but I think it

51:40raises the question and offers an opportunity to think about how it is that we can go about creating a more

51:45unified community first and foremost in Medina Easter L whether it be between

51:50the religious and the secular between different political positions that may overlapped with a religious secular

51:56divide but they also stand on their own to to a certain degree here in America and throughout the world I think when we

52:03look at our community as we look at the different denominations certainly of American Judaism I don't think that

52:09there's necessarily a tremendous amount of overlap I think that there are opportunities for us to come together

52:16and to speak and to do really important work around a common causes in at the same time sometimes I wonder are we

52:22doing enough are we too fractured a community how do we address that both in Israel and here at home as well look

52:29it's almost painfully easy in Israel and it is to me the most extraordinarily

52:36astonishing fact that it isn't done if the religious public in Israel went out

52:42to the secular public in Israel in love in total non-judgmental ISM and simply

52:50embraced and respected the kiddush Hashem would be beyond belief secular

52:58Israelis are marke meaning benomar meaning they are believers the children

53:03of believers but no I've ever told them how great they were you know so worried

53:11about the fractures in Israeli society in a world jury I persuaded the Hebrew

53:17University and the solidity of 2000 to mount a conference at the Hebrew you I

53:24decided not to make it between robots I thought you know that's four fouled

53:29before I've even begun you know they won't even sit in the same room together so I said let's do it with academics but

53:36we got academics from 16 different countries from all those around him from all the different shadings of Israel

53:43from Harvard from Princeton from Yale and hoods Lawrence and it was wonderful

53:48it was terrific we had this wonderful conference after two days I gave up in frustration I said to Elaine I've

53:55listened to some of the world's finest speaking any trouble is I've also

54:01listened to the some of the world's worst listening you know Jews are the world's best speakers whether the world's worst listeners

54:08everyone came and defended their fixed ideas and nobody was really open to anyone else so he said we're gonna try a

54:15different approach and I found that when we arranged for me to go and see the ad mother rubber of his Rayleigh securest

54:23s-- who is the rub of Israeli singer is the Israeli novelist Salma sorts and so

54:30I said to Elaine if you see if she had a Gera Rbbi there Satmar Rebbe you tell me can visit the Rabbi we got the

54:37secularist Aquila near a Berlitz come visit the Rebbe and my friend said to me, What are you gonna do you're gonna

54:43convert him? I said now I'm gonna do something much better than that I'm gonna listen to and so we went out to

54:52our ride into the desert and we sat for two hours with our Moses and we listened

54:58to and he became a beloved friend and I thought you know if I need somebody had

55:03done that 20 years earlier biggest want to make somebody Bowl Schubert get there before they're 60 and so the truth is

55:13every year I take out a choir and three cars on it to Israel and we do concerts

55:19for victims of terror we go to hospitals we go to the bereaved families we go to

55:25the villages by the Lebanese border we go to stay roads and we just lift their spirits we don't give them a hard time

55:31we don't speak ads Russia we just sing with and I tell you those secular

55:37Israelis are more religious than my religious guys in Britain why because

55:43secular Israelis want from a chief rabbi what none of my congregations wanted

55:48from me in England you know what they want from a chief rabbi a broker my guys

55:55never asked for a broker but secular Israelis want a brother from another might not help but it wouldn't white sir

56:02and when a broker so I am convinced that if the religious public would just have

56:09enough self-confidence to go out to the Kolani world

56:15and just as algalon hi let's drink together let's eat together let's sing

56:21together let's celebrate together there's no bottom line here I'm not trying to make you from I just love you

56:29I respect you you're a fine ship you could turn the whole of Israel barring a few extreme merits infected cases but

56:37unless you would turn the whole of Israel into a community that might not be religious but respective religion

56:44instead of feeling that terrible destructive tension that exists today

56:49so why people don't do it I don't know there are some wonderful rabbis doing it you know they the the what do you call

56:58it the what so hard lies the and and and

57:05there are a lot of great guys there who do reach out to the feminine but Israel

57:11is so ready and right for it because really these guys Israeli secularists

57:16have a Jewish neshama and my own work academically in terms of leadership

57:22Studies I'm working specifically with secular Israelis and I find a drink up

57:28the Torah they love and so Israel could just be turned around and I just hope

57:35the rabbi's will emerge in the coming generation who will do just that what about outside of Israel in terms of

57:43in terms an AMA National relationships do we need to do more in that regard

57:48what could that look like well I'll tell you you know we had a lot of turbulence in in Britain on this it was you know we

57:54had some force in your safety belt kind of moments and after those I thought

58:01hang on this is very very dysfunctional you know Jews are getting with Jews been there done that you know I don't need to

58:08do it all over again so I established two principles that I

58:13think have integrity and they did solve every problem we faced and that was

58:19number one principle one on all matters that affect and say Jews regardless of our religious

58:26differences we will work together regardless of our religious differences

58:31principle - on all matters that touch on our religious differences we will agree

58:36to differ but with respect those two rules created the following scenario

58:42that we could work together across the board across denominations on fighting anti-semitism on developing interfaith

58:49work on supporting Israel on welfare and you name it a huge number of activities

58:55where we could work hand in hand there were areas where we couldn't work hand in hand shul services educational

59:02curricula where we couldn't so Anglo jury consisted of a number of vertical parallel lines of where we agreed to

59:10differ but with respect but those horizontal lines we we work together on

59:16Israel welfare interfaith 97 ISM so that in England every Orthodox Junior reform

59:22Jew every reformed Union and Orthodox Jew and at least half of what we did we were able to do together so the warp and

59:29the weft created that lovely fabric in which we didn't diminish or make trivial

59:35the differences between us but we did work together for the sake of the Jewish people

59:42Jim Jim gears a little bit the the world we live in pull out our phones and look

59:50at how many emails we've probably received since the time we started to talk until this point it's just such a

59:58fast-paced frenetic existence it seems and it it my experience has been over

1:00:04the last just five years that it gets faster and faster each and every day

1:00:09it's add to that for so many of us living a committed religious lifestyle requires a tremendous amount of

1:00:15additional commitments whether it be in terms of economic implications of living that kind of lifestyle whether it be in

1:00:21terms of our commitment to Family Values there are so many demands upon our time

1:00:29that I find certainly for so many people that I know just the ability to come up

1:00:35and get a little bit of religious air is it's really quite difficult to do I'm curious I'm curious in particular in

1:00:43your case because I can imagine that you're very bored much of the time this is your retirement sitting in front of

1:00:49classrooms and stadium in full stadiums and speaking speaking in such a public

1:00:56fashion what do you do personally to find your own renewal well you know what I do I hope this isn't a shock to you

1:01:03but I used the world's oldest time management tool and it's also the world's greatest time management tool

1:01:08it's called Shabbos. In the days of Moses Shabbos was freedom from slavery to

1:01:17Egypt, today's Shabbos is freedom from slavery to emails and it is so powerful that it

1:01:26is incredible and sometimes you have to travel a long way Elaine and I wanting to make friends I've

1:01:35said Israel needs friends Jews need friends and we decided that we wanted to make friends in India among the leaders

1:01:42of the Hindu and Sikh community so we went and spend a week with the leaders of the in dues and Sikhs in Amritsar

1:01:50which is the Jerusalem of the six it's in North India it's where the Sikhs have their Golden Temple the Dalai Lama was

1:01:56there and we're sitting in Amritsar and I'm speaking the Dalai Lama was speaking and Mahinder Singh number three in the

1:02:04world seat hierarchy this Picchu and their 2000 seek students in the university of emirates and to my

1:02:10amazement because I had no idea this was coming we sit got up and he said to 2006

1:02:17students in North India you know friends what we Sikhs need is what the Jews have

1:02:23it's called Shabbos he said you wouldn't believe it Jews

1:02:30band one day every week telling the world to go away and just spending time

1:02:35with their family and just spending time with their friends they we need Shabbos

1:02:41so I said mandamus saying you're gonna come and give that Russian all of our shoes 2010 there was a world conference

1:02:52in Copenhagen on climate change and for some reason the British government

1:02:58decided they would take to Copenhagen not just a political message but a religious message so the Archbishop of

1:03:05Canterbury and I gathered the religious leaders together and we send a little message for a Jewish Christian and Hindu

1:03:12Muslim you know so I said you know we look you know say you know Jews actually

1:03:19have a solution to the problem of climate change it's called Shabbos imagine if no one in the world drove

1:03:26cars or flew planes one day in seven we would reduce by 1/7 at a stroke the

1:03:32world's carbon footprint so just keep shudders annual arrests global warming the Muslims the Imams came to me said

1:03:40you know she probably never thought of that before we are going to tell all our congregation not to drive to the mosque

1:03:47on Friday I said you can come and give that Russia its illusion I tell you you

1:03:55know Shabbos is the world's greatest time management tool I some years ago

1:04:03did a documentary for the BBC they asked me to do a documentary on the state of the family and Britain not the Jewish

1:04:09family the family as an institution and one of the things I did was I took what

1:04:15was the then the leading child care specialists in Britain she'd written all

1:04:21the books a name was Penelope leach and she was not Jewish and she didn't know anything about Judaism and I I thought

1:04:27it'd be interesting television to take a non Jew to a Jewish junior elementary

1:04:32school on a Friday morning see what they do so I take with the BBC cameras I take

1:04:39knowledge never set foot inside a Jewish school before she comes Friday morning and all

1:04:44the kids are doing the moksha but so you got the five-year-old mummy and daddy and the five-year-old booger and zeda

1:04:52and they're all shipping knuckles from the five-year-old children and out there

1:04:57making kiddush and they're making mode see and Penelope Leach has never seen

1:05:02anything like this before starts talking to the kids and she's talking to a five-year-old she says what do you like

1:05:09about show us what don't you like about show MS and this five-year-old boy said well what I don't like is you can't

1:05:15watch television it's really terrible you know she said what do you like about Chavez this five year old boy said you

1:05:23know what I like about Chavez it's the only day of the week when daddy doesn't have to rush away and as we were walking

1:05:32from the school Penelope leach turned to me and said she found like that shudders of yours saving their parents marriages

1:05:41this idea every one of you as one of the 1112 million people who've bought Steven

1:05:48Covey's book the 11:00 habit seven habits of highly effective people will tell you that according to Steven Covey

1:05:56the basic principle of a time management is the things that fall off the table when you're under pressure are the

1:06:03things that are important but not urgent Shabbos is the day dedicated to the

1:06:11things that are important but not urgent and without Shabbos we would fail to

1:06:17keep those things but because of Shabbos we do those things we make space for our

1:06:23family space to be part of the community space for learning and exercising our

1:06:29mind space for standing ensure and thanking our Shem for all the broca's he's given us instead of worrying that

1:06:36we haven't got the lady's Apple Smart Watch that makes us feel inferior because we've been sitting for 60

1:06:42minutes so it has to give it some punching bonnet and all the rest of the armor you know that Shabbos Anyanka for

1:06:50the world great time management secrets and that is the way to master emails mind you for

1:06:5822 years I didn't receive emails because they were considered a security risk when I left the Chief Rabbinate in

1:07:06theory I could have received emails but I said to my staff that I take the same

1:07:12view of emails as Augustine talk about

1:07:19virtue Augustine said dear God give me virtue but not yet and I say the same

1:07:29about emails so I suspect I've received more in the last few minutes been there

1:07:34in the truth we also I'm Thomas of course we spend a lot of time in prayer in Fela and of

1:07:44course it's Fela as much as it's a centerpiece of our Shabbos experience certainly speaking to not just our

1:07:52students but but so many people in the wider community this sense that somehow

1:07:57you walk into shul just that just the the talking you hear in not not our

1:08:03shalls' here of course but but really throughout throughout the religious

1:08:08community just the sense of I think that we know that that's a symptom it's a

1:08:15symptom that so often when we walk into a house of prayer were there perhaps for social reasons perhaps to fulfill the

1:08:21basic holic obligation a question about it and that's critical and yet at the same time that for so many of us and I

1:08:28certainly include myself in this that it's not it's not easy it's it's just very difficult to garner a real sense of

1:08:34immediacy I'm standing before the Lord what can we do to enhance heaven ends for that I feel very strongly about this

1:08:43and because of that I produced together with Karen or before then with our own

1:08:50community in Britain a new introduction and commentary and translation to the

1:08:56Sidora which was our first step my second step just because British jury

1:09:03is so different from American jury don't forget American jury I don't know what percentage is Orthodox what would you

1:09:09say roughly say ten percent okay in Britain around seventy percent but the

1:09:17difference is in Britain the people who are members of Orthodox Jews are very often non-observant Orthodox so they

1:09:25tend to come mainly Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur so they come on the days when the

1:09:33Prayers are at their lengthiest and sometimes their most incomprehensible so I really went out on a limb to make the

1:09:42drasha shown on Yom Kippur because I realized I had a captive audience

1:09:48actually once you're stuck in shul on Yom Kippur if you put gave somebody a

1:09:53telephone directory they would read it you know not much part but boy what a cast, you know so I really worked at

1:10:03those two but I didn't manage to bring to America what I did at the time of my

1:10:08first CD or because I don't believe that just doing a new CD or is enough so I actually produced four CDs about

1:10:18Fela words music words music for you to listen during the week on the carts to

1:10:24get him in the car and what have you just to convey some of the emotion

1:10:29prayer is music prayer is poetry and yet we recite it we dove and through it as

1:10:36if it were pros and somehow or other you know I've only just begun this journey I

1:10:41haven't finished you I have to do a lot of YouTube stuff I have to make the

1:10:47music of the prayers sing as part of me to see these I mean I work with the top

1:10:54the man who was the top record producer in the 1980s all the iconic pop music we we work with

1:11:01him to produce a number of new recordings of stuff one of which is on

1:11:07YouTube if you haven't heard it yet it was our Oseh Shalom that we did with some schoolkids

1:11:13 to mark Israel's anniversary. So I believe that we have to try a multimedia

1:11:18approach to lighting poetry the poetry and the music of the prize sing I've

1:11:24just begun this yeah but I hope you will do this as part of the school and I hope

1:11:30you'll be in touch with our curriculum development department in Britain that

1:11:35is right now working on a curriculum to make proud meaningful for some of the

1:11:41less religious not just them you know to make prayer a meaningful spiritual

1:11:47experience so get in touch with our curriculum development and have done some great work and I've no doubt that

1:11:53you will do great work and if we can get those schools to share their good practice together to fill our earliest

1:12:01it's just beautiful and it's magnificent and we should allow it to sing to us one

1:12:07final question coming up on Pesach and in just a few weeks and so much of our time and energy at this time is really

1:12:14dedicated to the material preparations to the point that we very often experience that sense of servitude and

1:12:22slavery going into the holiday but of course it's about so much more it's in

1:12:28particular the night of the Seder the central mitzvah he God telev in the mitzvah of transmitting not just the

1:12:34story certainly of the Exodus but but more globally of course transmitting the Jewish story transmitting our heritage

1:12:39to that next generation and one of the echoes that I hear very often is the challenges that parents certainly we as

1:12:47educators experience how do we inspire that next generation was such a

1:12:52cacophony of voices out there with the social media and with the texting and all the distractions and all the

1:12:58exposure how do we feel how we really filter out all of that noise and really connect with the next generation and

1:13:04pass on those messages any personal perspectives as a parent any larger

1:13:10perspectives in terms of how to properly fulfill that mitzvah

1:13:16mmm my parents aalayam Shalom were of a

1:13:23generation of British Jews that for all sorts of reasons did not have much of a

1:13:28Jewish education and I think they felt

1:13:34that lack of an education very deep play but what they communicated to us to

1:13:41myself and to my three brothers beyond anything else was their love of Yiddish

1:13:48guy they may not have known as much as a

1:13:54generation does now but they loved it they lived it they breathe they were ashtray Yosh wave it down they were

1:14:02happy to be in a shoe it was their home and Wordsworth said in the prelude what

1:14:10we love others will love and we will show them how and I think that is a very

1:14:19powerful statement it's a statement I quote in the name of the AL ship at the beginning of latter in the scrum aisle

1:14:25she asked how can the Torah say is she not don't over that heart you shall teach your children what if your

1:14:31children don't wanna learn and his answer was well look two verses earlier I have - you would

1:14:38love the Lord your God and if you love the Lord your God your children will

1:14:44also so I think that is the clown girdle a fundamental principle but now I will

1:14:51 let you into the secret see my dad a'hs who had to leave school at

1:14:56the age of 14 and never had this Jewish education and had four boys at four year intervals always always a little painful

1:15:04come pacer na8 our Baba name who is the caramel is the Russia and all the rest

1:15:11it's likely the painful experience but but you know and baruch Hashem we all went

1:15:17to university we all went to Cambridge we all got first-class honorus with all the rest of them, we all stayed from so

1:15:24people used to say to my dad a'hs Mr Sacks, how did you get such great children? He said "it's their

1:15:33 mother" which was half true actually

1:15:42 but the real truth was this, and I shared it with all the parents here when I was

1:15:49 five years old every Shabbat I would walk back from shul with my father ahs and I would ask him

1:15:58questions and he always gave me the same answer and this was his answer used to say

1:16:06Jonathan I never had a Jewish education and therefore I cannot answer your

1:16:12questions but one day you will have the

1:16:18Jewish education I didn't have and when that happens you will teach me the

1:16:26answers to those questions. You want your children to become chief rabbis or chief

1:16:32for evidence that's what you do if we have the humility as parents to let our

1:16:39children do what God did to Abraham, you remember what he said he telephoned his PA

1:16:47To go on ahead of me I think when parents say to their kids go on ahead of

1:16:53me no more than I know keep more than I and then come and teach me I tell you

1:17:01you you will have kids who will just amaze and astound and that to me is the secret of being a

1:17:08Jewish parent I learnt it from my parents that I am show up and how children learnt it from the light and

1:17:14thank goodness is so much better a parent than I am and if you do that to

1:17:20your kids you will have builders of the Jewish future like you cannot believe so

1:17:27you've got a great school you have great parents may you bring great blessings to the Jewish people in

1:17:34the coming years thank you [Applause]

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