A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World's Oldest Religion - Hardcover

Sacks, Rabbi Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743201086 ISBN 13: 9780743201087

Publisher: Free Press, 2000

Synopsis

The Chief Rabbi of Britain explores rapidly evolving ideas about "Jewish identity" and offers his own blueprint on how to live according to the Torah in the twenty-first century. 17,500 first printing.

About this title

Review:

A Letter in the Scroll, by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of Britain, was inspired by a project he assigned to several university students. He suggested that they write to some of the most accomplished Jewish men and women in the world and ask what being Jewish meant to them. They sent out 200 letters and received six, mostly tepid, responses. Sacks considered these responses to be evidence of "confusion and demoralization at the heart of contemporary Jewish identity." He then decided to address the question himself, and A Letter in the Scroll is his answer. The book is a personal theology of Judaism, and it is a challenge to new generations of Jews to define the nature of their place in the story of Israel. Sacks's central theme is that "Judaism is not a theory, a system, a set of speculative propositions, an 'ism.' It is a call, and it bears our name." Sacks makes this argument in many ways, with reference to theology, philosophy, ancient history, and his personal experience. Most impressive, however, is his concise, direct, and wise use of Scripture: "The most eloquent words God spoke to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets was to call their name," he writes. "Their reply was simply Hineni, 'Here I am.' That is the call Jewish history makes to us: to continue the story and to write our letter in the scroll." --Michael Joseph Gross

About the Author:

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has been the Chief Rabbi of Britain and the Commonwealth since 1991. Educated at Cambridge and Oxford, he has held professorial chairs and congregational pulpits in England, Israel, and the United States. The author of eleven previous books, including Arguments for the Sake of Heaven and The Politics of Hope, he lives in London, England.

About this edition

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0743201086
• ISBN 13: 9780743201087
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272