78 Inhis 2007work TheHomeWeBuildTogether, the international religious leader, philosopher, award-winning author, and Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Lord Jonathan Sacks argued that much of the divisiveness that defines modern society may be traced to the lack of dialogue between communities. For a society to flourish, he believed, it must have a culture of conversation, and those conversations must acknowledge difference evenwhile striving to create the common good. Itwas just this sort of conversation that, six year earlier, brought Rabbi Sacks to Bar-Ilan, where he engaged in both deep and wide-ranging discussion with the late Israeli writer Amos Oz. Organized by Prof. Jonathan Rynhold of the Department of Political Studies—whose founders, Profs. Charles Liebman and David Elazar, themselves left a lasting imprint on Sacks’s philosophy—the event would become the first in Rabbi Sacks’s long tradition of inviting leading intellectuals of all backgrounds and from across the religious and ideological spectrum into conversation on the major concerns of the day. It is fitting, then, that last year, when The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust sought an institution in Israel to carry forward Rabbi Sacks’s vision, it chose from nearly 50 prestigious applicants to partner with the Department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan. “When we first announced that the Jonathan Sacks Institute of Bar-Ilan University would be housed in the Department of Political Studies, many people expressed surprise that it wasn’t a project of the Faculty of Jewish Studies instead,” says Rynhold, who will serve as the institute’s director. “But Rabbi Sacks was not only a Jewish leader. He was also a philosopher who spoke to the most vital social, political, and moral issues in our society. Therefore, while Prof. Chanoch Ben-Pazi and other researchers from the Jewish Studies faculty will play an important role in developing the institute, we all understood that the best place for studying and spreading Rabbi Sacks’ teachings is one whose mission is to address the same broad, political and moral issues that were addressed by Rabbi Sacks himself.” Creating a Living Legacy The Jonathan Sacks Institute of Bar-Ilan University From left to right: Prof. Arie Zaban, president of Bar-Ilan; Eliot Sacks; Lady Elaine Sacks; Brian Sacks; Joanna Benneroch, chief executive of The Rabbi Sacks Legacy; Prof. Jonathan Rynhold; Prof. Hanoch-Ben Pazi; Dr. Miriam Feldman-Kaye.
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