Sharansky appointed chair of Rabbi Sacks Legacy global advisory board
Celebrated human rights activist describes former Chief Rabbi as 'a moral lighthouse and his light is needed more than ever in these dark times'
The charitable trust which honours the life and teachings of the former Chief Rabbi has appointed Natan Sharansky as the chair of its Global Advisory Board.
The news from the Rabbi Sacks Legacy was announced at a packed event at the Moise Safra Center in New York City to celebrate the publication of the 20th anniversary edition of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’ acclaimed book, “A Letter in the Scroll.”
A towering figure in the Jewish world, Natan Sharansky is an internationally renowned leader, human rights activist, and author who played a pivotal role in the Soviet Jewry movement.
Writing the foreword for the new edition of the book, Sharansky said: “We feel Rabbi Sacks’ loss keenly, but are also grateful that he left us his precious words, words that even when we reread them more than 20 years after they were written, carry his gift of opening the fullness of our own existence to us, of inviting us to be everything that we can be.”
A close friend of the former Chief Rabbi, he added: “Rabbi Sacks was a moral lighthouse, and his light is needed more than ever in these dark times. That’s why I have chosen to accept the chairmanship of the Rabbi Sacks Legacy’s Global Advisory Board to ensure his timeless teachings on Jewish identity, personal responsibility, and the fight against antisemitism reach every corner of the world.”
The event also featured a panel discussion with Sharansky, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism, Dan Senor, American columnist and writer, and Rabbi David Ingber, the founding rabbi of Romemu, the largest Renewal synagogue in the United States.
Cotler-Wunsch -said: “A Letter in the Scroll has guided, instructed and inspired me for twenty years. When I try to comprehend how it can be that in response to the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, there isn’t just a rise in antisemitism, there’s a tsunami, I look to Rabbi Sacks. He calls it ‘the mutation of antisemitism’. This enables us to see what is happening today. This new strain of antisemitism is anti-Zionism.”
Andrew Klaber, chair of the Rabbi Sacks Legacy’s US board of trustees, said: “As the evening drew to a close, attendees left with a renewed sense of purpose and a deeper connection to their heritage, inspired by Rabbi Sacks’ timeless words and the panelists’ insightful reflections.”
- The Rabbi Sacks Legacy was established with a mission to perpetuate the timeless and universal wisdom of Rabbi Sacks. Click here to find out more.
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