WHOSE CHIEF RABBI?

Abstract

The Chief Rabbi's office asked me twice to submit a list of questions prior to the interview, and twice I refused. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks is, understandably, a bit nervous about speaking to the Jewish press. Only a few weeks earlier, a confidential letter he had written to Rabbi Padwa was leaked to and published by the Jewish Chronicle. In the letter, the Chief Rabbi describes himself as ‘the greatest enemy of the Reform’ and constructs an intricate apology for his participation in a memorial service for Rabbi Hugo Gryn. The publication of the letter caused a major storm in the Anglo-Jewish community, reminiscent of a—furore a year earlier when Rabbi Sacks wrote an article in the ultra-orthodox Jewish community, reminiscent of a furore a year earlier When Rabbi Sacks wrote an article in the ultra-orthodox Jewish Tribune, in which he accused the Masorti movement of intellectual theft (gnevat hada'at) and misrepresentation.

For a Chief Rabbi whose primary concern has been a lofty concept called Jewish Continuity (the organizational version of which was a-financial disaster), Jonathan Sacks has managed to create a great deal of discord in the Anglo-Jewish community His tenure has been marred by acrimonious controversy and divisive politics. Yet, at the same time, he has succeeded in cultivating an image of the freethinking philosopher-rabbi, and his many books on political and social issues attest to his active interest in the world at large. Lately this image has been questioned: while an editorial in The Times described Sacks as being on a par with such great Jewish minds as Freud and Einstein, a Guardian columnist denounced him as a fundamentalist'.

Who is the man in the midst of all this controversy? Should he be accused of cowardice, for ingratiating himself to a religious leader more orthodox than himself; who does not even recognize the office of the Chief Rabbi? Or should he be admired for his strength and resilience in dealing with a splintered and angry community? Is he a true leader, occupy a post many believe is a superfluous relic of the past? And is there a link between Sacks the religious figure and Sacks the author of his latest book, The Politics of Hope?

We meet very early in the morning at his home in St John's Wood, in a small room flanked by two bookcases: one containing secular literature, the other religious volumes, the entire top shelf (or two?) of which is occupied by books written by Sacks himself: While waiting for him to return from answering an urgent long-distance phone call from Perth, Australia (‘Can a rabbi take part in a bris in a local church?’), I succumb to a journalist's nosiness and finger the not vey attractive plants decorating the bookcases. They are artificial.

The Chief Rabbi himself; when he finally enters the room, is smart-looking, catiously friendly and… very nervous, at least in the beginning. After listening to my explanation as to why I wouldn't give away' my questions—I want us to have a natural conversation, not a stilted exchange—Rabbi Sacks answers everything, even those questions he describes as ‘offensive’.