On Rabbi Sacks
To discover Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ opinions and activities on the issue of anti-Semitism, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach should have read his book “Future Tense” (“Why America has no chief rabbi,” February 7). In Chapter 5, Rabbi Sacks concluded that as victims of anti-Semitism, Jews do not have the capability to fight it on their own. In 2002 Rabbi Sacks helped form the Coexist Foundation, an organization of Jews and Muslims fighting anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Then Rabbi Sacks and the leaders of British Jewry strove for interfaith cooperation by working closely with leaders of all other faiths. In 2005, they took their case to Parliament, which set up a committee of inquiry and promulgated a report in 2006. As a result, an all-party parliamentary committee was established to fight all forms of anti-Semitism. The leaders of all British parties also took a stand, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown providing government funding of trips sending teachers and students to Auschwitz to learn about the Holocaust. In 2007, they took their concerns to the presidents of the European Parliament and the European Commission.
Rabbi Sacks concluded that anti-Semitism begins with Jews but never ends with them. This must be considered in any strategy to fight anti-Semitism. The differences between Jews and others must be respected. That is the essence of human dignity.
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