In this second episode exploring A Letter in the Scroll, Dr. Tanya White delves beyond the book to examine how its themes resonate with the pressing challenges of Jewish identity in a post-7/10 world. Joining her are three esteemed Jewish leaders - Sivan Rahav Meir, Natan Sharansky, and Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik - who reflect on how Rabbi Sacks’ profound ideas can guide us through this unprecedented historical moment.

Our featured guests:

Sivan Rahav Meir is an Israeli journalist and television and radio news reporter. In March 2024 we distributed a booklet compiled by Sivan called “To Be A Jew”. It consisted of short extracts from Rabbi Sacks’ writings, matched with topical real-life anecdotes from Sivan, published in both Hebrew and English.

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik is the senior rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan, as well as director of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University.

Natan Sharansky is one of the world's most famous former Soviet refuseniks and an Israeli politician, author and human rights activist. He is also the Chair of The Rabbi Sacks Legacy's Global Advisory Board.

Joanna Benarroch is Global CEO of The Rabbi Sacks Legacy. She had the honour of working closely with Rabbi Sacks for over 20 years.

A Letter in the Scroll

A BRIEF OVERVIEW

Twenty years since A Letter in the Scroll was first published, this book continues to act as a crucial voice in the conversation of what it means to have faith, to be a Jew, and to build a better world.

Written originally as a wedding gift to his son and daughter-in-law, this is Rabbi Sacks’ personal answer to the question, ‘Why Am I A Jew?’, and his response is a testimony to the enduring strength of his religion.

Tracing the revolutionary series of philosophical and theological ideas that Judaism created - from covenant to sabbath to formal education—and showing us how they remain compellingly relevant in our time, Sacks portrays Jewish identity as an honour as well as a duty.

In a way that is both timely and timeless, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks questions how, in the face of such adversity, has Judaism remained and flourished, making a mark on human history out of all proportion to its numbers? And how, in this speedily changing world, can it continue to do so?

A Letter in the Scroll was also published under the title Radical Then, Radical Now.

Books and Beyond: The Rabbi Sacks Podcast

Week 49, Day 2