By Zalman Myer-Smith
Chof Cheshvan is the birthday of the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneerson of saintly memory, the founder of the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah system in Lubavitch.
The impact of Tomchei Temimim has always been far reaching. One of its more renowned students who spent a year in Kfar Chabad, was a very inspired British Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z’l.
Rabbi Sacks z’l took a sabbatical before taking on the awesome and very challenging role as Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. A role he carried out with great distinction, changing the landscape of British Jewry while also uplifting the perception of Jews by non-Jews. He fused academia with Torah, wowed academic peers, bowled over those of faith and no faith like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens while garnering massive respect from other faith leaders. He was the embodiment of Kiddush HaShem.
On Chof Cheshvan 5781, the world lost an outstanding Jewish leader and speaker at the young age of seventy-two. He was a quintessential Englishman. Both modest and naturally shy, he was moser nefesh and despite the calling from several other easier and more comfortable career paths he, with the guidance and encouragement of the Rebbe, chose to pursue a rigorous battle against Jewish apathy, assimilation and the oldest enemy, antisemitism.
I was very fortunate to spend a significant amount of time with Rabbi Sacks z’l as his protection officer or personal bodyguard which was a life altering experience for me personally. He would love to joke that Bitachon can be said in two ways. Bitachon – security and Bitachon – faith. He said to his security team “you guys take care of the bitachon (security) and I will take care of the Bitachon (faith)” and he truly did with both aplomb and excellence.
His levaya which in non Covid times would have had in attendance the Prince of Wales, Ambassadors, Peers from the House of Lords and a slew of distinguished members of the Jewish community and hundreds upon hundreds of everyday folk was but a simple and modest affair with just thirty people present. The service and eulogies were succinct, elegant and heartbreaking.
There is a famous saying “Don’t meet your heroes”, because if you do you would undoubtedly be let down. You naturally put heroes on a pedestal, revere them and aspire to be like them. The challenge with Rabbi Sacks z’l was meeting him was exactly the opposite. There was no let down or disillusionment. To the contrary, you would be overwhelmed with his passion for learning and constant effort and yearning to find answers to questions that others could not or would not grapple with. He was charming, humorous, modest, private and utterly brilliant.
His unbridled love for the Rebbe and the impact of Chabad Lubavitch was astounding. Here was one of the leading thinkers, philosophers and spokesmen for the English speaking Jewish world who was in constant awe with the teachings, leadership and seemingly never ending achievements of the Rebbe.
Rabbi Sacks z’l took on topics with zeal knowing that there was always a solution in the Torah. His unquenchable thirst for knowledge and answers became his raison d”etre to get to the heart of critical matters we wrestle with and find answers while aligning the Torah perspective as succinctly as possible.
Weighed down with daily crises, community infighting and while also trying to solve life questions, he had a continual ebullience in public. He would not be strangled by the chains of office and kept his eyes on the prize, namely his insatiable appetite to promote education and impact Jewish communities. The seat of Office of the Chief Rabbi was an effective vehicle for his goals.
After he left office in 2013, he began a vigorous schedule that included exercise to ensure he was in top condition to carry out his mission. He left a prolific and prodigious legacy of classes and over thirty five books. A small sampling of this includes his weekly Covenant and Conversation, articles on leadership, a TedX talk and even being profiled by lifestyle guru Tim Ferris as a mentor in his book Tribe of Mentors.
There were so many grave losses during an aggressive COVID lockdown in the UK, that Rabbi Sacks z’l said the pandemic would “try (the) nation like World War Two”. Even during those dark hours, he acclimatized himself to Zoom teaching and ran marathon teaching sessions to uplift Jews and expand his fervent belief and mission.
Rabbi Sacks z’l famously recounts his meeting with the Rebbe while on a worldwide tour meeting Jewish leaders, how he was spellbound and became a chosid of the Rebbe after the questions he had were turned to him. The Rebbe asked him what he was doing to improve the Jewish world. Rabbi Sacks z’l said the “Rebbe sought to make leaders, not followers’ ‘ and that encounter started the path of communal leadership that Rabbi Sacks z’l pursued with distinction.
His initial aspirations to be either an academic, barrister or economist melted away and the Rebbe gave him a clear roadmap that service to the Jewish community was his life mission and it ended with him fulfilling his mission with unadulterated love for the Rebbe and Lubavitch.
Each year the BBC would produce a Rosh HaShanah program presented by the Chief Rabbi. One year I flew with him to Kosovo for the filming of his message after the war there. It was a whirlwind trip with various stops in what had only recently been a war zone. NATO troops were still guarding sites and providing an international police force. We were fortunate to be accompanied by the then Defense Minister Geoff Hoon and flew on the Queen’s Flight, the personal plane of HM The Queen.
Once settled in on the flight I took out a copy of Tzavat Harivash in English. Frankly, it was not an easy read. Rabbi Sacks asked to look at it and then recounted to the UK Defense Minister, how the Baal Shem Tov revolutionized Yiddishkeit, made learning it to the masses and demonstrated that each and every Jew is a stakeholder and participant in Yiddishkeit and that, indeed, Yiddishkeit is not a spectator sport. Now I realize how surreal it truly was to learn such a pivotal life lesson in such an environment.
Despite exposure to world leaders and decision makers, he was always well grounded. You knew he was in a different sphere, however he took care to ask what was happening in your world. He would always ask what was in the news while we were in the car or walking and sincerely questioned where you were holding in life and wanted updates.
He sought desperately to make this world both a humane and human place. A place for conversation, especially between those who don’t agree. He did so with a very evident sense of urgency in his mission.
Sadly, I have endured grief previously, r’l. However, the loss of a mentor, hero, father figure and protectee who happened to also be one of the most formidable and effective Chief Rabbi’s world Jewry has seen in modern times left an indelible scar and deeply impacted me. I mourn for him daily and live in disbelief that my hero is no longer here physically. I am left with great remorse that I will not see him in this realm again.
Henry Scott Holland, (1847-1918) a renowned professor at Oxford University wrote a beautiful poem regarding the relationship of those residing in this world and those who are no longer here and I feel, for me at least, is a poignant piece on how to grasp on to such precious memories and experiences.
“Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household world that it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well. ”
Rabbi Sacks z’l had no pretenses. A professor, rabbi, teacher, father, zeidy and shliach who effectively used an exclusive and powerful platform to reach out to as many Jews as possible, while also impacting the general world as well. He adored his wife Elaine who was almost always by his side and was truly an aishes chayil, confidante, guide and supporter.
In my first few weeks of learning in Morristown in 1997 with the guidance and intervention of Rabbi Sacks z’l, I heard a cassette tape playing in the “Tiferes van” with the most beautiful voice singing words I did not then understand. It was soul piercing and I inquired as to what the song was and who was singing it. It was the Rebbe singing Tzomech lcha nafshi,
At Rabbi Sacks z’l levaya, a very close friend Rabbi Lionel Rosenfeld ended his eulogy by singing Tzomech lecha nafshi with that same melody I had heard that first time in Morristown. At the unveiling of his matzeiva, Lady Sacks spoke and ended with the words Tzomech l’cha nafshi. Those same words are etched on his matzeiva. His soul truly thirsted for Hashem and for teaching the world the beauty of Torah. Part of that thirst was quenched. Rabbi Sacks carried the impact of the Rebbe as he lived and continued to do so when he left this world.
Many times in life, we find life goes full circle. I was recently corresponding with Lady Elaine Sacks, may she be well, and I told her that we are so proud of our son k’ah who is currently learning in the Yeshivah Gedolah in London at Kingsley way. Her response to me was “Kingsley way is where we used to daven, at the beginning before Jonathan became a Rabbi. Hope he enjoys it. “
My son would not be in Yeshiva Gedolah London at Kingsley Way if it weren’t for Rabbi Sacks or the Rebbe. Rabbi Sacks would never have been a Rabbi, let alone Chief Rabbi without the Rebbe. We have much to be grateful for, k’ah. His memory is truly a blessing and we should all take heed from his example and zeal for life, learning and more critically taking action.
