Introduction - Mr Pinny Kreizel 

This Thursday 21 November, the 20th of Cheshvan, was the Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of blessed memory. Rabbi Sacks was a well known Rabbi, Teacher, Educator and Moral voice. Rabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. In this context he visited Carmel School several times and inspired our students. 

On his Yahrzeit, his day of passing, Carmel School participated in learning sessions as part of the Rabbi Sacks Global Day of Learning. During the session students were put into groups, with older students leading the younger students in a discussion of Rabbi Sacks’ Torah and teachings. 

The theme of this year's Day of Learning was People of the Book. Rabbi Sacks proposes a novel answer for Mark Twain’s question, “What is the secret to the immortality of the Jews?” Rabbi Sacks offers a new reading for the Talmud story where King David, at the end of his life, attempts to evade death by studying Torah all day. In the end the Angel of Death finds a way to trick him into stopping for just a brief moment. Rabbi Sacks reads this story as an answer to how King David answers the question, ‘How does the Jewish Nation stay alive forever?’ And the answer that King David finds is that the secret is through Torah study. By maintaining the ideas and values of Judaism and passing them on from generation to generation through education, the Jews discover how to be immortal. Individual Jews can die but not the nation. 

As Rabbi Sacks puts it so eloquently, “We are not just a nation of the book but a nation only because of the book”. 

May his memory be a blessing.

Student Reflection - Tamir Razon

On the fourth Yahrzeit of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, and as part of the Rabbi Sacks Global Day of Learning, the Jewish Studies department held a whole school ‘chavruta’ in honor of Rabbi Sacks’ impact on the Jewish community worldwide. Rabbi Sacks previously visited the school, and although young, I am one of the few students left in the school who had the privilege of listening to his lecture in person. 

In the school's ‘chavruta’ on Thursday, we learnt about Rabbi Sacks’ life achievements, and studied a portion of the Mishnah with his commentary, looking at the eternal soul of Judaism and Mark Twain’s quote about Jewish survival: ‘All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains.’ It was a very powerful session which allowed us all to learn from Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and continue his teachings onto the next generation. 

I would like to thank the Jewish Studies department for holding this ceremony in remembrance of the late Rabbi.