 Jonathan Sacks has been Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth since September 1991, the sixth incumbent since the role was formalised in 1845. Prior to taking up his current post, Rabbi Sacks was Principal of Jews’ College, as well as rabbi of the Golders Green and Marble Arch synagogues.
Educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he obtained first class honours in Philosophy, Jonathan Sacks pursued postgraduate studies at New College, Oxford, and King’s College London, gaining his PhD in 1981 and rabbinic ordination from Jews’ College and Yeshiva Etz Chaim.
The Chief Rabbi received the Jerusalem Prize 1995 for his contribution to diaspora Jewish life, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005. He was made a Life Peer and took his seat in the House of Lords on 27<sup>th</sup> October 2009, where he sits on the cross benches as Baron Sacks of Aldgate in the City of London.
The Chief Rabbi is a frequent contributor to radio, television and the national press. Born in 1948 in London, he has been married to Elaine since 1970. They have three children, Joshua, Dina and Gila and four grandchildren. Many of his books have been translated into French, Italian, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Korean and Hebrew. |
