Posted on 05/19/23
London – The Rabbi Sacks Legacy has launched a learning guide aimed to enhance both individual and group learning for adults and teens over the upcoming holiday. It includes source sheets and a study guide that provide step-by-step prompts to facilitate learning, allowing everyone to explore the deeper significance of the holiday.
The resources were curated by two members of the first cohort of Sacks Scholars, Dr. Mijal Bitton and Michael Rainsbury.
The source material for adults was prepared by Bitton, communal leader of the Downtown Minyan in New York City and Scholar-in-Residence at the Shalom Hartman Institute, is a “Shavuot Reader” focusing on “What Ties Us To Judaism,” a collection of sources and guiding questions on notions of the covenant, inspired by the teachings of Rabbi Sacks. One guiding question focuses on different works from Rabbi Sacks which brings the discussion about why voluntary choice is foundational to the covenant and what does it mean to choose to bind oneself to a covenant to G-d, the Torah, and the Jewish people?
The study guide curated for teenagers was compiled by Rainsbury, head of Adult Education at the London School of Jewish Studies, and focuses on “Why Am I Bound By a Covenant I Didn’t Personally Agree To.” It draws inspiration from Rabbi Sacks’ various published works that center around the Sinai covenant.
One such reference comes from Rabbi Sacks’ book Morality, in which he wrote “In a covenant, two or more individuals, each respecting the dignity and integrity of the other, come together in a bond of love and trust, to share their interests, sometimes even to share their lives, by pledging their faithfulness to one another, to do together what neither can achieve alone. A contract is a transaction. A covenant is a relationship. Or to put it slightly differently: a contract is about interests. A covenant is about identity. It is about you and me coming together to form an ‘Us’.”
“Shavuot was a special holiday for Rabbi Sacks as it centers around learning – both individually and communally,” said Joanna Benarroch, Chief Executive of The Rabbi Sacks Legacy. “Working together with Rabbi Sacks’ former students to create these Shavuot guides is an opportunity to continue studying his words and ensuring his legacy remains alive.”
All the materials are available in English, Hebrew, French and Spanish and can be downloaded from www.rabbisacks.org/shavuot-resources, and are intended to be printed before Yom Tov.
The Sacks Scholars initiative was launched earlier this year to provide high-level Jewish educational and leadership training to a selected cohort of 27 individuals who had known and learned from Rabbi Sacks personally during his lifetime.
Rabbi Sacks passed away on November 7, 2020. At that time his professional initiative, the Office of Rabbi Sacks, transitioned to The Rabbi Sacks Legacy to perpetuate the timeless and universal wisdom of Rabbi Sacks as a teacher of Torah, a moral voice, and a leader of leaders. Through innovative programs and an active digital and social media presence, The Rabbi Sacks Legacy continues to bring the vision and philosophy of the world-renowned leader directly to generations to come.