Former UK Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks talking to the BBC about the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Screenshot.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog commemorated on Tuesday the one year anniversary of the death of former UK chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks, saying that “few figures in our history have shaped our global Jewish conversation” more.

Herzog praised Sacks’ “call for Judaism to engage with the world, his appeal to respect the dignity of difference, his cry to heal the fractured world.”

“Rabbi Sacks was a giant of a man,” he continued, “a rabbi whose prose reads like poetry, whose words in his magically soft and wise voice touched our hearts and souls and our minds, whose humility, whose kindness, whose brilliance of mind enriched the Jewish world and indeed, the entire world.”

Sacks’ passing, said Herzog, “has left an enormous void in our collective Jewish life.”

“Rabbi Sacks inspired and continues to inspire us to invest in Jewish future, to understand that we are all part of one great Jewish story, and that we are each called upon to add our own chapter to this story,” the president said.

“I sorely Miss Rabbi Sacks very much,” he added. “And I’m comforted by the outpouring of love for him one year after his tragically passing away, as well as his enormous writing his enormous legacy and his wonderful ideas. May his memory be an eternal blessing for all of us and for humanity at large.”

Watch President Herzog’s speech below:

"Few figures in our history have shaped our global Jewish conversation as much as Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks."
As we remember Rabbi Sacks & mark his first anniversary, President of Israel @Isaac_Herzog offers an emotional & poignant tribute to his friend.🕯️pic.twitter.com/QHS3oYIdTm

— Israel in Ireland (@IsraelinIreland) October 26, 2021