Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Image by Getty Images

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth, won one of the world’s largest prizes, the $1.5 million Templeton Prize, which recognizes individuals for contributions to life’s spiritual dimensions, announced the John Templeton Foundation today.

During his service as chief rabbi from 1991 to 2013, Sacks is credited with revitalizing British Jewry, according to a press release from the foundation. Sacks promoted Jewish ethical responsibility and created organizations dedicated to fostering Jewish approaches to contemporary issues in business and women’s equality.

“Today the most powerful religious voices are coming from the extremes and I think that is terribly dangerous. They are speaking to young idealistic kids and turning them really into murderers and we can’t sit still and just let that happen,” Sacks told Reuters.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“I think religious leaders have to give the same power and passion to the forces of reconciliation, compassion, forgiveness, love, friendship across the boundaries between faiths,” he added.

Sacks is the author of over 25 books, most recently Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence. He currently teaches Jewish thought at New York University and Yeshiva University.

The foundation praised Sacks’s “appreciation and respect of all faiths, with an emphasis that recognizing the values of each is the only path to effectively combat the global rise of violence and terrorism.”

Sacks will formally receive the Templeton, whose award is bigger than that attached to the Nobel or MacArthur prizes, at a May 26 ceremony in London. Sacks has also received the Jerusalem Prize, and was knighted in 2005 by Queen Elizabeth.

Previous winners of the Templeton Prize include South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 2013 and the Dalai Lama in 2012.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount