To be sure, Rabbi Sacks wrote this book celebrating Judaism's life-changing ideas, as he has articulated them, primarily for his fellow Jews. However, I am suggesting here that non-Jews of good will can benefit enormously from his celebration of Judaism's life-changing ideas.
The Five Books of Moses are not only the opening part of the Hebrew Bible, but also the opening part of the Christian Bible. Indeed, they are part of world literature that even self-described secularists should be familiar with.
If I were a rich man, I would buy copies of Rabbi Sacks' book Judaism's Life-Changing Idea and send them to my family and friends for their edification. Moreover, I would urge President-elect Joe Biden and his transition team to read Rabbi Sacks' celebratory book carefully and take his life-changing ideas to heart.
In Rabbi Sacks' "Introduction: The Transformative Power of Ideas" (pages xvii-xxiii), he says that Judaism "is a way of thinking, a constellation of ideas: a way of understanding the world and our place within it. Judaism contains life-changing ideas. . . . Judaism was and remains a dazzlingly original way of thinking about life" (page xvii).
In addition, Rabbi Sacks says, "However long it takes, though, ideas change the world. . . . But sometimes ideas change the world because they change us. It's these ideas I want to explore through the weekly [readings]" (page xviii).
He also says, "Jews contributed to the world some of its most transformative ideas" (page xx).
Now, out of consideration of space, I am simply going to highlight here five of Rabbi Sacks' 156 life-changing ideas from the 54 weekly readings he discusses:
(1) In Rabbi Sacks' chapter "Miketz: Jews and Economics" (pages 45-49) in the subsection on Genesis, he gleans the life-changing idea #10: "What can be healed is not holy. God does not want us to accept poverty and pain but to cure them" (page 49).
(2) In Rabbi Sacks' chapter "Mishpatim: The Power of Empathy" (pages 91-95) in the subsection on Exodus, he gleans the life-changing idea #18: "If you seek to change anyone's behavior, you have to enter into their mindset, and then say the word or do the deed that speaks to their emotions, not yours" (page 95).
(3) In Rabbi Sacks' chapter "Vayikra: The Call" (pages 127-131) in the subsection on Leviticus, he gleans the life-changing idea #24: "For each of us God may have a task. Discerning that task, hearing God's call, is what gives a life meaning and purpose" (page 131).
(4) In Rabbi Sacks' chapter "Hukkat: Kohelet, Tolstoy, and the Defeat of Death" (pages 215-221) in the subsection of Numbers, he gleans the life-changing idea #39: "We can emerge from the shadow of death if we allow ourselves to be healed by the God of life. To do so, however, we often need the help of others" (pages 221).
(5) In Rabbi Sacks' chapter "Devarim: The Effective Critic" (pages 245-249) in the subsection on Deuteronomy, he gleans the life-changing idea #44: "If you seek to change someone, make sure that you are willing to help them when they need your help, defend them when they need your defense, and see good in them, not just the bad" (page 249).
Just as life-changing ideas #18 from the subsection on Exodus and #44 from the subsection of Deuteronomy, quoted above here, strike me as closely inter-related, so too life-changing ideas #13 from the subsection on Exodus ("When you learn to listen to views different from your owns, realizing that they are not threatening but enlarging, then you have discovered the life-changing idea of argument for the sake of Heaven" [page 69]) and #38 from the subsection on Numbers ("If you seek to learn, grow, pursue truth, and find freedom, seek places that welcome argument and respect dissenting views" [page 213]) also strike me as closely inter-related.
Incidentally, Rabbi Sacks gleans the life-changing idea #38 from the weekly reading that he discusses in his chapter "Korah: The First Populist" (pages 209-213). President Donald ("Tweety") Trump is best described as a populist.
As I say, these quotations are but a sample of the 56 life-changing ideas that Rabbi Sacks has gleaned from the Five Books of Moses and from the Jewish tradition of interpretation of those five books, combined with his own well-informed knowledge in relevant related literature. Basically, I admire his way of proceeding to glean these life-changing ideas from the various inputs he uses to discern them.
Finally, Rabbi Sacks' other new 2020 book is Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times.
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