Lord Sacks among great minds tasked with uniting Jewish world

Former Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks is among 30 renowned Jewish intellects advising a landmark conference in Jerusalem “to ensure a bright future” for world Jewry.

The Our Common Destiny Initiative, a joint project of Genesis Philanthropy Group (GPG) and Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin, strives to “strengthen the bonds among Jews worldwide”.

Gathered from six continents, academics, activists, rabbis and community leaders are meeting to produce a draft a declaration to be presented to the President.

Rivlin will then call on Jews globally to engage in a year-long discussion, with the aim of producing a finalised ‘new spiritual and intellectual’ document, outlining shared values and principles.

Ilia Salita, president of Genesis Philanthropy Group, said, “We invite Jews living in Israel and elsewhere to join in the crafting and completion of a document as ambitious as the Declaration of Our Common Destiny.

“We believe doing so has the potential to excite and engage Jews of all backgrounds and worldviews. We know the initial draft will be vastly improved by the input it receives from the world Jewish community. This is Jewish crowd sourcing on a whole new level.”

Sanford R. Cardin, chair of Our Common Destiny’s Advisory Board, said the initiative “has the potential to become a generation-defining event” which can “strengthen Israel-Diaspora relations and world Jewry as a whole”. He added: “We envision that this Declaration will help shape how future generations of Jews, within Israel and worldwide, learn to listen to each other and work together to ensure a bright future for our people and the world at large.”

As well as Lord Sacks, Lord Jacob Rothschild is on the advisory board of the Our Common Destiny, while British academic Dr. Robert Harris is a scholar. Other key figures from across the world include Rabbi Pinchas Goldshmidt, the President of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), retired Israeli Air Force Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin and Itamar Rabinovich, President of the Israel Institute and former Israeli envoy to US.

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