Exploring the book "Radical Then, Radical Now" by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks ztz’l.

The Academy Book Club and Sydenham Shul have begun unpacking some of the works of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks ztz’l. Rabbi Sacks, thinker, philosopher and leader, loved books and words, authoring more than 20 during his life. In them, Rabbi Sacks’ approaches to life, humanity and Judaism are so often radically different from our expectations: they are transformative, counterintuitive and relevant today.

This term, we’re reading Radical Then, Radical Now, a powerful testimony to the amazing resilience of the Jewish people who have, through their endurance of four thousand years of persecution and exile, earned a unique place in history. In that space, we created an identity for ourselves through shared dreams of freedom, justice, dignity and human rights. Rabbi Sacks asks three penetrating questions: Who am I? Who are we? And how did we lose our way? Through a journey of self-discovery – his own – he reminds us of the legacy we carry and our responsibility to ourselves, our nation, our G-d – and the human race.