The Orthodox Union joins the Jewish community and the world in mourning the loss of Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, zt”l.
Rabbi Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom for 22 years, served as a profoundly eloquent teacher of Torah and spokesman for Torah values within the Jewish community and beyond. He was an intellectual giant whose unique blend of Torah scholarship, academic achievement, human sensitivity, and social awareness allowed him to speak to the issues of our times to the broadest of audiences, and he did so with courage, clarity and optimism. Rabbi Sacks was a beacon of Kiddush Hashem, whose thoughtful teachings improved the world and invariably brought honor to the Torah and the Jewish people.
Amongst his prolific writings on a wide variety of subjects, his Torah commentary was studied weekly by tens of thousands. OU Press was privileged to be a partner in publishing many of these writings and the Orthodox Union family benefitted from a wide range of programming and teaching experiences he shared with us.
Rabbi Sacks’ unique voice, novel and insightful ideas, exciting and elegant prose, unfailingly relevant messages, and outstanding leadership will all be sorely missed.
The levaya (funeral) for HaRav Ya’akov Zvi ben David Arieh z’l, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, was held in London in line with current UK Government COVID guidelines. Here is a link to the videos of the hespeidim (eulogies) that were delivered.