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My legacy? A community that is able to walk tall

Lord Sacks — the farewell interview

August 21, 2013 16:24
Lord Jonathan Sacks (Photo: Michael Donald)

BySimon Rocker, Simon Rocker

7 min read

The floor of the lounge where Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks has received prime ministers, archbishops, VIPs from far and wide and myriad communal representatives in countless receptions, is now awash with books.

As he prepares to leave office in just over a fortnight, he is having to reduce his large personal library before moving from the official residence he has occupied in St John’s Wood for the past 22 years to live in Golders Green.

Many had thought he would have been tempted by an academic post following the rabbinate. Indeed, he had some “terrific offers” even before he became chief rabbi. But he is not retiring to the cloisters of campus. “I am not an ivory-tower person,” he said.

And he is certainly not taking a break. “I did not think I would get a book written in summer, but I did,” he said — to add to the one-a-year timetable he achieved during his period in office. A heavy schedule lies ahead.