1. The lowest point in my life actually came
about when I published in 2002—on September 11, 2002, the first anniversary of
9/11—a book called The Dignity of Difference.
I decided that I would write a personal
response to 9/11 to be published on the first anniversary. It was called The
Dignity of Difference. It was a very strong book and a very controversial book.
Members of my own community believed that I had simply gone too far, and that I
had actually been guilty of heresy.
It was then that I heard a voice. I’m not
going to say this was God talking to me, but it was certainly a voice that said
to me, “If you resign, you have given your opponents the victory. You have allowed
yourself to be defeated in this first battle of what you see as the major
challenge of the coming generation.”
That was when I suddenly realized that it
wasn’t about me. It was about not letting down the people who had put their
faith in me and not betraying the ideals that had led me to take the job in the
first place and write the book in the second place.
There was a 180-degree shift, a Copernican
shift in my understanding of the nature of what I was doing. It wasn’t personal
at all; there was no self involvement here. It’s about what you stand for, and
the people that you care about. From that moment on, I became, in a sense,
invulnerable, because I was no longer putting myself on the line. P 158-160
2. "Live. Give. Forgive." They are by far the most important things in life. P 160
3. I realized that leaving a job as public and as
privileged as that was almost certain to bring withdrawal symptoms and risk of
depression. I took a decision to overschedule my diary in order to simply not
have time to be depressed. P 161
4. fear and hence defensiveness. This is
precisely the wrong way to face the future. Face it full of hope, knowing that
whatever challenge lies ahead, you are equal to it, and just deliver a message
that is precisely the opposite of fear and defensiveness. P 162
5. What did I key into the sat-nav system of my
life [where do I want to be 10, 20 years from now]? What is my ultimate
destination? You have to look at that every time you feel overwhelmed.
Remembering that destination will help you make the single most important
distinction in life, which is to distinguish between an opportunity to be seized
and a temptation to be resisted. P 162
https://www.amazon.com/Covenant-Conversation-Numbers-Wilderness-Reading/dp/1592640230/ref
RABBI LORD JONATHAN SACKS is an international
religious leader, philosopher, award-winning author, and respected moral voice.
He was awarded the 2016 Templeton Prize in recognition of his “exceptional
contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.” Rabbi Sacks has been
described by HRH The Prince of Wales as “a light unto this nation” and by
former British prime minister Tony Blair as “an intellectual giant.” Since
stepping down as the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the
Commonwealth—a position he held for 22 years—Rabbi Sacks has held a number of
professorships at several academic institutions including Yeshiva University
and King’s College London. He currently serves as the Ingeborg and Ira Rennert
Global Distinguished Professor of Judaic Thought at New York University. Rabbi
Sacks is the author of more than 30 books. His most recent work, Not in God’s
Name: Confronting Religious Violence was awarded a 2015 National Jewish Book
Award in America and was a top ten Sunday Times bestseller in the UK. Rabbi
Sacks was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer,
taking his seat in the House of Lords in October 2009.
Reference
Ferriss, Timothy. Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World (P. 157). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
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