Much of the work, notes and more once belonging to the renowned religious leader and philosopher has been acquired by Israel’s National Library

The personal archive of the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (1948-2020) was received this week by the National Library of Israel (NLI) in Jersusalem. Comprising around 50 boxes of material – including sermons, books, notes, correspondence and lectures – the library will catalogue the extensive collection and make it accessible to researchers.

“My dear husband expressed great enthusiasm for the new National Library of Israel,” said Lady Elaine Sacks, widow of the late rabbi. “It is fitting that his personal archive will be housed there, continuing his legacy of sharing knowledge and wisdom with the world.”

The NLI’s chairman, Sallai Meridor said: "We are honoured to be given responsibility for incorporating the writings and teachings of Rabbi Sacks z"l into the library of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. His legacy will serve as a source of inspiration [and], through digitisation, this important archive will be made available around the world for generations to come."

An initial survey of the archives shows that much of the material is concerned with causes the late rabbi championed in his lifetime, such as community cohesion and engaging Judaism with the world. Sacks, who served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013, was regarded as a great communicator and storyteller whose ideas and arguments were thought-provoking enough to keep both the Orthodox and Liberal Jewish communities on their toes.

Though he grew up in an Orthodox household, it was Sacks' study of philosophy at Cambridge University (and the influence of his atheist PhD supervisor Bernard Williams) that helped him understand "the importance of being open to others” (as he told the Financial Times shortly before his passing in 2020) – a sentiment that became a defining feature of his world view.

A letter from the archive, written by Sacks on the matter of Jewish unity shortly before Pesach in April 1998, aptly demonstrates his openness. “The Haggadah is not predicated on a simple concept of Jewish unity,” he wrote. “It presents to us a portrait of four children around the table. They are not the same. One is wise, one a rebel, one is simple and one unable to ask. Their perspectives are different. Their voices are not in harmony. But they sit at the same table. They are members of the same family. They tell the same story. We are the people who carried with us the indelible recollection of centuries of suffering, not because we revel in it, not because we see ourselves as victims, but in order to remember that whatever else divides us, history unites us.”

By Ed Brown

Header photo © Blake Ezra / Rabbi Sacks Legacy

Sacks' profound contributions to moral thought, both within the Jewish community and beyond, continue to be studied and celebrated at the annual Sacks Conversation, set up by the Rabbi Sacks Legacy. The next event will be held at the National Library of Israel on Thursday 21 November. rabbisacks.org/sacks-conversation