Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, formerly the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth and one of the greatest current Jewish thinkers in the Jewish world, said on Wednesday that the issue of the Western Wall should be resolved through dialogue between all the relevant parties. Rabbi Sacks does not live in Israel. Speaking to a delegation of the Gesher organization and the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora in London, Rabbi Lord Sacks said, "Neither side should exaggerate on the issue. Each side has a place to pray - and therefore we must not think of victory or defeat." He also referred to the Conversion Law that was approved by the government this week and which forbids private bodies to carry out conversions in Israel, saying he trusts his rabbi, Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch, former head of the Maale Adumim hesder yeshiva, who identified the danger of converting immigrants from the Russian Commonwealth. "If Rabbi Rabinovitch saw the need to establish such a [private] court, then I support him and trust him," declared Rabbi Lord Sacks. Asked why religious Judaism seems to have difficulty accepting those who are perceived as different, the rabbi replied, "I set a goal to bring Jews in England closer to one another, and I accomplished it. I do things in England but I do not know if I could be a rabbi in Israel. I could be a university professor there. The people in Britain are different from those who live in Israel." Rabbi Lord Sacks praised the work of Rabbis David Stav, Yuval Cherlow of the Tzohar organization and of Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch, saying, "These are rabbis who can speak to those in the Israeli audience who are less connected - and create a bridge and connect them to Judaism." "Israel's attitude towards the Diaspora is not always a proper one,” he opined, “but it happens because one of the principles of Zionism is the negation of the Diaspora." The rabbi addressed the question of how to deal with people who really want to be Jewish but are not interested in being religious. "If I want to be healthy, I have to make physical efforts like running and exercising. Just as the body needs habits in order to be healthy, so does the soul needs halakha in order to be healthy,” he said. Rabbi Lord Sacks' comments follow the government's decision this week to cancel the plan to establish a designated mixed-gender prayer area for members of the Reform and Conservative movements at the Western Wall plaza in addition to the one at Robinson's Arch. The decision angered the Reform and Conservative movements. Following that outrage, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu instructed Minister Tzachi Hanegbi and Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman to try and formulate a new agreed upon plan.
