Jonathan Sacks
ARTICLES BY: Jonathan Sacks
Parshat Tzav: Only Demagogues Teach People to Hate the ‘Other’
This week's sedra, speaking about sacrifices, prohibits the eating of blood: Wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal. If...
Parshat Vayikra: How to Find Meaning in Your Life
The US Declaration of Independence speaks of the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Recently, following the pioneering work of Martin...
Parshat Pekudei: The Origins of Jewish Philanthropy
Pekudei has sometimes been called the accountant’s parsha, because it begins with the audited accounts of the money and materials donated to the Sanctuary. It...
Parshat Vayakhel: The Beauty of Holiness — or the Holiness of Beauty?
In Ki Tissa and in Vayakhel, we encounter the figure of Betzalel, a rare type in the Hebrew Bible -- the artist, the craftsman, the...
Parshat Ki Tissa: The Jews as a Stiff-Necked People
It is a moment of the very highest drama. The Israelites, a mere 40 days after the greatest revelation in history, have made an idol:...
Parshat Tetzaveh: How Brothers Learned to Live in Unity
It is interesting to note the absence of Moses from parshat Tetzaveh. Moses -- the hero, the leader, the liberator, the lawgiver -- is off-stage...
Parshat Terumah: The Synagogue as a Portable Home
Parshat Terumah describes the construction of the Tabernacle -- the first collective house of worship in the history of Israel, which was eventually succeeded by the...
Parshat Mishpatim: The Torah Commands Us to Love the Stranger and the Immigrant
There are Torah commands that leap off the page by their sheer moral power. So it is in the case of the social legislation in...
Parshat Yitro: The Revelation at Mount Sinai Was the Creation of Freedom
The revelation at Mount Sinai -- the central episode not only of parshat Yitro, but of Judaism as a whole -- was unique in the...
Parshat Beshalach: Rational Explanations for Miracles Don’t Take Away Their Wonders
The splitting of the Red Sea is engraved in Jewish memory. We recite it daily during the morning service, and we speak of it again...
Parshat Bo: The True Meaning of the Plague of Darkness
The ninth plague -- darkness -- comes shrouded in a darkness of its own. What is this plague doing here? It seems out of sequence....
Parshat Vaera: The God Who Acts in History
The Israelites were at their lowest ebb. They had been enslaved. A decree had been issued that every male child was to be killed. Moses...
The Story of Moses — and Why We Must Never Consider All People Our ‘Enemies’
She is one of the most unexpected heroes of the Hebrew Bible. Without her, Moses might not have lived. The whole story of the exodus...
Parshat Vayechi: If We Truly Change, Our Mistakes Can Become Our Merits
The scene that brings the book of Genesis to a close is intensely significant. Joseph’s brothers were terrified that, after the death of their father...
Why J Street’s ‘Birthwrong’ Trip Might Actually Be a Good Idea
Coptic Analyst Offers Warning to Jews (and Christians) About Potential Attacks in Wake of New Zealand Shooting
Heads of State: Honduras to Open Diplomatic Mission in Jerusalem, Romania to Move Embassy
Gaza Border Residents Voice Fear, Anger Over Palestinian Riots: ‘There Are No Children Who Are Not Afraid’
Israeli Citizens to Become Eligible for US Investor Visas as of May