By Michael Rainsbury

The Rabbi Sacks Learning Fellowship

How do you even begin to enshrine the legacy of Rabbi Sacks? This is the question we at LSJS faced, as we planned our educational future without our former principal and guiding light.

The Rabbi Sacks Learning Fellowship, launched in September 2022, was our first answer to that question. Bringing together 20 young professionals, this prestigious cohort are spending this year exploring key themes in Jewish thought as well as the teachings of Rabbi Sacks, with an emphasis on their relevance and application, and how they can influence our lives. Crucially, the fellowship does not aim to merely teach the ideas that Rabbi Sacks taught, but instead aims to foster a cadre of individuals who think, learn and speak Torah in a way that reflects Rabbi Sacks’ unique worldview. Or as Rabbi Sacks may have said: ‘to continue the conversation’. This has been a key part of LSJS’ efforts in preserving the legacy of Rabbi Sacks, such as in the popular weekly series ‘Covenant and Continuity’, in which teachers expand upon Rabbi Sacks’ ideas and take them in their own direction.

For Matt Marks, a fellow who is studying for the Mizrachi semicha programme, it could not have come at a better time. Having written his MA thesis on the educational vision of Rabbi Sacks, he jumped at the

chance to join the programme. “For me, the fellowship offers a chance to learn from teachers who have spent years exploring Rabbi Sacks’ ideas. The discussions we are having in each session are enriching, allowing us to contextualise Rabbi Sacks’ unique teachings into a corpus of thought”. As well as attracting educators, the target audience had a broader remit. Just as Rabbi Sacks moved seamlessly between Jewish and secular disciplines when writing and teaching, we wanted our fellows to come from a variety of professional backgrounds. In our inaugural cohort, you will meet people working in sustainability strategy, real estate, accountancy and non-profits. All are involved in the Jewish community, whether at their local shul, as trustees of charities or running learning programmes. Yaela Orelowitz, a drama therapist from Johannesburg, South Africa, applied to the fellowship to imbue her work with values and concepts from Torah: “My goal is to dive into these teachings of Rabbi Sacks and use them to deepen and enrich my work in the field of mental health”. Since the onset of Covid and having seen the impact it had on people’s mental health, she has been trying to find out what is “critical to some essence of why we live, and how can we infuse our lives and the lives of future generations with more of this?” Indeed, the question of ‘how to live a meaningful Jewish life’ is being asked by many young people, and it is the guiding question running through every fellowship session. A major part of the fellowship is the relationship fellows will build with their teachers. This includes LSJS educational staff and teachers of Rabbi Sacks, such as Rav Alex Israel, Dr Tanya White and Rabbi Johnny Solomon. As well as the regular sessions, each fellow will have a personal mentor who is there to answer questions, go through the learning provided a series of readings for each session. We have simply updated his course, adding elements of Rabbi Sacks’ Torah worldview as well as contemporary issues such as ethics of AI, social media, medical dilemmas and many more. In this way, we have stayed true to the ideas of Rabbi Sacks himself, while giving ourselves the space to create more content based on his style of learning and what he thought was fundamental to Jewish life.

“In this way, we have stayed true to the ideas of Rabbi Sacks himself, while giving ourselves the space to create more content based on his style of learning”

and provide guidance as they move through the course. Although not every session is overtly about Rabbi Sacks’ teachings, each one will be infused with his worldview.

Creating a course named after Rabbi Sacks is an awesome responsibility, and it is not easy to summarise his wide gamut of teaching. Fortunately, we were able to benefit from the foresight of Rabbi Sacks himself, who decided to write a similar course in 1978 for students. His course aimed to teach the most fundamental topics in Jewish thought, and he Our hope is that the Rabbi Sacks fellows will deepen their understanding of Judaism through the sessions, mentoring and the conversations within the cohort. And most of all, for them to see themselves as torchbearers of the legacy of Rabbi Sacks. Michael Rainsbury is Head of Adult Education. For more information on The Rabbi Sacks Learning Fellowship please contact michael.rainsbury@lsjs.ac.uk.

Joanne Greenaway & Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum with some of the Rabbi Sacks Learning Fellows. Sept. 2022

Spring Preview

Make sure you are signed up for the LSJS newsletter so that you will be the first to find out about new events, courses and tours.

There will be a scintillating host of teachers offering a range of indepth courses, special events and tours as well as 13 levels of Ulpan classes. When you sign up for a course or event you get access to a recording the next day, should you be unable to join us live or simply want to re-watch* . This term make sure you join us for TWO special free events: Sunday 26th February, as part of the annual LSJS fundraiser, summon yourself to the Trial of Solomon, and on Monday 30th January, don’t miss the annual Rabbi Sacks Chair of Modern Jewish Thought lecture. Both these events are taking place at LSJS as well as online. We are also delighted to be continuing our ‘Covenant and Continuity’ series with the Rabbi Sacks Legacy, developing the thought of Rabbi Sacks on the weekly parasha, and this time focusing on the Book of Exodus. There are plenty of courses to get stuck into, such as exploring Tehillim, diving into modern Jewish literature or getting ready for the Coronation by looking at Anglo-Jewish history in the reign of England’s Queens. We’ll be running our popular tours at the British Museum and ensuring everyone is ready for Pesach with a special “Super Seder” Day. Get ready to be inspired and be a part of our vibrant learning community. The full Spring programme is out on the 20th December.

Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum

Rabbi Dr Harvey Belovski Michelle Sint Dr Aviva Dautch

Simon Goulden S&P Sephardi Senior Rabbi Joseph Dweck

The LSJS Shop

You are now one click away from purchasing recordings of previous LSJS events to enjoy at a time that suits you. Visit our online shop to get recordings of events featuring: Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt”l, Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum, Professor Deborah Lipstadt, S&P Sephardi Senior Rabbi Joseph Dweck, Dr Aviva Dautch, Dr Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz, Professor Anthony Julius, Dr Harris Bor and many more. New events added regularly

Dr Harris Bor Rabbi Professor Samuel Lebens Rabbi Michael Pollak

Rabbanit Surale Rosen

Rebbetzin Dr Hadassah Fromson Rabbi Gideon Sylester

Guest Teacher Focus

Rabbi Professor Samuel Lebens will soon be launching his new book at LSJS, ‘A Guide for the Jewish Undecided: A Philosopher Makes the Case for Orthodox Judaism’. In this interview, Michael Rainsbury, Head of Adult Education, asks him how he got to where he is today, and about his passions in Jewish education.

Hello and thank you for your time! Can you tell readers about yourself? Where are you from, and where do you live now?

I grew up in Leicester, in a traditional Anglo-Jewish home. I now live in East Netanya (Kiryat Hasharon). I’m a professor of philosophy and a Rabbi. The journey from Leicester to Netanya included years in university in London, various stints in Yeshiva in Israel, and some post-doctoral positions in America. Thankfully, I was finally able to settle with my long-suffering wife and children, in Israel, when I secured an academic position at the University of Haifa (commuting from Netanya).

What are your current roles?

I am an Associate Professor of philosophy at Haifa, although I’m privileged to teach Torah in various institutions on the side (including at various Yeshivot in Israel, at the Pardes Institute, at Drisha (in the USA), and of course, at the London School of Jewish Studies). My position at the University of Haifa has two main elements: teaching and researching. The student body is tremendously diverse. I find that teaching philosophy manages, if only temporarily, to bridge the many social divides between my students (some of whom are religious, some secular, some Jewish, some Arab, etc.). I also get to teach a wide array of topics from the philosophy of fiction to the philosophy of religion. My research, like my teaching, allows me to follow whatever philosophical itch I might be experiencing at a given time.

You have taught in many settings throughout your career. Which types of teaching bring you the most joy?

I can’t choose. I love the ethnic and religious diversity of the University. I love the youthful eagerness and spiritual restlessness of gap-year students at Yeshiva. I enjoy the experience of teaching adults, who bring with them a wisdom and a life-experience that undergraduates don’t yet have.

Which topics are you currently researching?

I have a number of different projects on the boil. I’m almost finished co-authoring an introduction to the philosophy of fiction. I’m also busy replying to various scholars who have raised interesting criticisms of an older book of mine, The Principles of Judaism. These criticisms are the best sort of criticism to receive, since they come from friendly scholars, interested in my work, but who have found gaps or problems that I need to address (concerning my account of religious language, and my Hassidism-inspired account

of creation). Eventually, I hope to turn my attention to a new project on the notion of chosenness – a central Jewish doctrine that lends itself, I fear, to misunderstanding and toxic distortion.

What has been your involvement in LSJS?

As a student in London, I was tremendously privileged to come under the mentorship and guidance of the late Maureen Kendler, of blessed memory. With support from Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum, she first got me teaching in front of adults, at LSJS. Before that point, I’d only ever led informal Jewish education in youth movements (most centrally, Jewish Youth Study Groups), but other youth movements too, through my involvement with UJIA. I think that the first thing I taught at LSJS was as a guest speaker on a course about the weekly parsha. For many years now it has been my pleasure to appear at special events, study-days, and the like.

Who have been the biggest influences in your career?

In my academic career, I’ve had many mentors who have helped me to navigate the challenges of early-career academia. More recently, Dean Zimmerman (at Rutgers), and both Saul Smilansky and Daniel Statman (at Haifa) played a crucial role in securing my long-term employment. The greatest role model in my religious life is the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of blessed memory. Without his counsel, early on, I don’t know how I would have preserved my religiosity. His memory continues to guide me day by day.

Can you tell us more about your current book and why you wrote it?

in conversation with the wider Jewish community, and not to stay confined within the ivory tower. Accordingly, it is a book aimed at the wider Jewish community. I argue, in this book that, at least for many people situated in the Jewish community, the choice to embrace religiosity, and halakhic observance, is much more rational than people may have thought.

Do you see yourself as primarily an author or a teacher?

I can’t easily separate the two. My writing is wrapped up in what and how I teach. My teaching is wrapped up in what and how I write. I’m also learning as I teach, learning as I write, teaching as I learn, and teaching as I write. So, I’m also a student, and hope to remain one for as long as I can. To book your place to for the special book launch at LSJS on 5th February visit www.lsjs.ac.uk.