The Twitter account of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Saturday announced: “Baruch Dayan Ha’Emet. It with the deepest sadness that we regret to inform you that Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (HaRav Ya’akov Zvi ben David Arieh z’’l) passed away early this morning, Saturday 7th November 2020 (Shabbat Kodesh 20th MarCheshvan 5781).”
Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks, served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013. As the spiritual head of the United Synagogue, the largest synagogue body in the UK, he was the Chief Rabbi of those Orthodox synagogues but was not recognized as the religious authority for the Haredi Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations or for the Masorti, Reform and Liberal congregations. As Chief Rabbi, Sacks formally carried the title of Av Beit Din of the London Beth Din.
On October 16, Rabbi Sacks’ office tweeted that he had been diagnosed with unspecified cancer recently, adding, “He remains positive and upbeat and will now spend a period of time focused on the treatment he is receiving from his excellent medical team. He is looking forward to returning to his work as soon as possible.”
Rabbi Sacks was born in Lambeth, London, in 1948, and completed his higher education at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he earned an MA in Philosophy. While a student at Cambridge, he met with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, who convinced him to seek rabbinic ordination and enter the rabbinate, and consequently received his rabbinic ordination from Jews’ College and London’s Etz Chaim Yeshiva.
In 1978, Rabbi Sacks became Rabbi of the Golders Green Synagogue in London. In 1983, he became Rabbi of the prestigious Marble Arch synagogue in Central London. Between 1984 and 1990, Sacks also served as Principal of the rabbinical seminary Jews’ College. He was inducted to the post of Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth on September 1, 1991.
Rabbi Sacks was the author of 25 books and published commentaries on the Siddur as well as on the Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Pesach machzorim. His books have won literary awards, including the Grawemeyer Prize for Religion in 2004 for The Dignity of Difference, and a National Jewish Book Award in 2000 for A Letter in the Scroll. His Covenant & Conversation: Genesis, was awarded a National Jewish Book Award in 2009. His commentary on the Pesach prayer book won the Modern Jewish Thought and Experience Dorot Foundation Award in the 2013 National Jewish Book Awards. His Covenant & Conversation commentaries on the weekly Torah portion are read by thousands of people in Jewish communities around the world.
Rabbi Sacks married Elaine Taylor in 1970 and together they had three children: Joshua, Dina, and Gila.