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Julian Leeser wrote: “I join with Prime Minister Scott Morrison (ScoMo), who often quotes him, in paying tribute to the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.Rabbi Sacks was one of the most profound influences on my life. Although I only met him twice – once at his home in London and then on a visit to Sydney – through his prolific writings (he produced 30 books, each substantial works of scholarship in the last 30 years ) speeches and broadcasts (where he was equally prolific) I benefited enormously from his teaching.

A philosopher by training Rabbi Sacks combined the best thinking from philosophy both classical and modern with Torah and the wisdom of the Jewish sages.

He reminded Jews to “be true to your faith and a blessing to others regardless of their faith” His vision of the role of Judaism in the society is inspiring “Judaism is the counter-voice in the conversation of humankind. As Jews, we do not follow the majority merely because it is the majority. In age after age, century after century, Jews were prepared to do what the poet Robert Frost immortalised [to take the road less travelled].”

Jonathan Sacks wrote not Just for a Jewish audience or a British audience but for thinking people all over the world. Christian leaders were as likely to quote him as Jewish ones. His scholarship and erudition enabled him to put things into words for people of faith in a way that restored their pride at a time when people of faith have been increasingly under attack.There are many Christian writers writing and thinking about leadership in the modern world but Sacks contribution was to provide an authentic Jewish voice to this conversation

I always tell young Jewish leaders to read some Rabbi Sacks for inspiration. Rabbi Sacks believed in a Judaism engaged with the world. His sayings are as important as anything found in our tradition: “Non-Jews respect Jews who respect Judaism and Non-Jews are embarrassed by Jews who are embarrassed by Judaism” is a phrase I have repeated and adapted in other contexts. “A good leader creates followers but a great leader creates leaders” is something that anyone who aspires to lead should remember.

His gift to political philosophy was to focus on the pre-political idea of covenant derived from the Hebrew Bible without which a society cannot function. It was this idea that caused me to seek a meeting with him 13 years ago:

“The two central institutions of modern Western liberal democracies are both contractual. There are commercial contracts that create the market; and there is the social contract that creates the state. The market is about the creation and distribution of wealth. The state is about the creation and distribution of power. But a covenant is about neither wealth nor power, but rather about the bonds of belonging and collective responsibility. As I put it in The Politics of Hope, a social contract creates a state. A social covenant creates a society. A society is the totality of relationships that do not depend on exchanges of wealth and power, namely marriages, families, congregations, communities, charities and voluntary associations. The market and the state are arenas of competition. Society is an arena of co–operation. And we need both.”

I will miss the speeches, the broadcasts, the books and the jokes but fortunately Rabbi Sacks was so prolific and so wise that there are many I am still to hear and read and so many deserve further study and re-reading.

To Lady Sacks and his family; to his friends and students especially Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence (formerly of the Great Synagogue in Sydney who worked with Rabbi Sacks on the Reith Lectures (the UK equivalent of the Boyer lectures in 1991) and to all those who have been inspired by his work, may his memory be a blessing.”

Baruch Dayan Emet.