28 FT.COM/MAGAZINE APRIL 4/ 52020
‘Ican’treadmusic
andIcan’tplay
music.Iloveit
withacompletely
untutoredjoy’
Out ofOffice
Jonathan Sacks◀Golders Green,acentreofLondon’smiddle-class
Jewish community.NearbyisHampstead Heath,
where, in summer,Sacks’swife Elaine pursuesher
ownpassion, swimming. “What music is for me,
the Hampsteadpond is for her,”he says.
Sackswearsadark blue suit,white shirt and
yellowtie. Hisbespectacledfaceisframedby
tidilytrimmedgreyhairandabeard. There
isaskullcap on the crownofhishead.Apaint-
ing of musicians and dancers hangs on one wall,
adjacent to another coveredinfloor-to-ceiling
bookshelves.Onatable areframedphotographs
ofhim with the Queen, Prince Charles,the Dalai
Lama and other dignitaries.
Sacks was chief rabbibetween1 991 and
201 3.Under him, therole gainednew prom-
inence. The BritishJewishpopulation is only
26 0,0 00 ,but that makesitthe fifth largest in the
world. Sacks wasdeterminedtoplaceitsvoice
at the centreofnational life. “I wantedtotry to
moveAnglo-Jewry fromacommunity that was
immenselyproud of its past to one thatwas
activelybuilding its future,”heexplains.
Sinceretiring as chief rabbi, he hasremained
busyonthe publicstage. He isamember of
the House ofLords,havingbeenmadeBaron
Sacks of Aldgate in the City ofLondon in 2009.
His steadytones,theacmeofreasonableness,are
often heard on the radio and television. His new
bookMoralityfollowsaRadio4seriesthat he
presentedonthesubject.Init,hearguesthat
social cohesion depends onpeople sharing the
same morality,but thatinthewest thesebonds
havebeenweakenedbyindividualism. Three
separate developments areidentified.The first is
the advent of thepermissivesociety in the 1960s.
The second is the entrenchment of free-market
ideologyinthe 1980s.The third is the spread of
identitypolitics and BigTech in the 2010s.
Running throughits pagesisabelief that
moralityisnotexclusively religious,but rather
the productofco-operation and mutualrespect.
“This is not anevangelisingbook,”heexplains.
“It doesn’tsay,let’smoveback toGod, let’s
moveback to the Bible.Weareindifficult ter-
ritory,economically,politicallyand socially.
Wecan’tdothis on ourown, so let’sdoittogether.
Let’sresolvewhat principleswill takeusforwards
such thatwecanwork for the common good.”
The bookdraws on his pre-rabbinical
background studying and teaching philosophy
at CambridgeUniversity.HisPhDsupervisor
was the philosopherBernard Williams,an
atheist from whom he learntthe importance
of“openness to otherness”.Sacks was the first
person in his familytogotouniversity.His father
Louis came to Britain fromPoland asachild in
the 1920s and leftschoolat14inordertowork
selling cloth inLondon’sEast End, thenacentreof
working-classJewish life. Sacks’smotherLouisa
wasthe daughterof Lithuanian wine merchants
withashop calledFrumkin’s,which functioned
as an informal community centrefor newJewish
immigrants to the East End.
“Music was my connection withmyfather,”
Sackssays.Louiswas an amateur violinist(“Notaverygoodone”) who adoredMahler.“He
reallywantedtolift me up from this nonstop
stream of TheBeatlesand 1960sstuff,”Sacks
says.Their joint trips to seeconcerts at theRoyal
Albert Hall hadadeeperemotional purpose
too.TheyhelpedtheteenageSacks toestablish
common ground withaparent whopossesseda
difficult,evenoppressive,personality.
“He was judgmental to the nth degree,”Sacks
recalls.“Tobehonest withyou, it was difficult
to livewithajudgmentalperson.Very,very few
people met his standards.”
The first concert theywent to was anextrav-
agant staging ofTchaikovsky’s 18 12 Overture,
complete with cannon and mortar effects.“It got
to me. Once that started,therest was simple.
FromTchaikovskywegot toShostakovich,
then to Stravinsky’sThe Rite ofSpring,The Fire-
birdandPetrushka.Ilovedthat journeyofthe
soul. Andeventuallywegot to the quartets ofBee-
thoven, which to me arethe ultimate spirituality
in music.Ihadtowrestle with them, just to climb
that mountain.”
He did not learn music at home, wherehe
was the oldest of four brothers.“Therewerecer-
tain things theynever taught us,”he saysof his
parents.“TheyspokeYiddish but did not teach us
asingleword of it,because theywantedustobe
proper Englishmen.”S
acks was in hisfirstyear at Cambridge
when TheBeatlesreleasedSgtPep-
per’sLonelyHeartsClubBandin 1967.
“Totallystunning. That wasthe music
at Cambridge for me, that andBee-
thoven’squartets.”Hemet Elaine while
studyingthere.Unlikehis father,she was non-judg-
mental, “infinitelypatient”.For theirengagement,
Sackswasgivenastate-of-the-art stereobyher
father.“IimmediatelyplayedtheAminorBee-
thovenquartet,the opus 132.Ihaverarelybeen
closer to heaventhanthat.”
Music iscrucial toJudaism.“Any sacredtextis
neverread,it is sung,”Sacksexplains.Despite its
spiritual significance,however,the focus onvoice
has actedasabrakeonthe artistic scopeofJewish
religious music.
“The Christian tradition of music, whether
orchestral or choral, is whollymagnificent and
thereisnoequivalent inJudaism.Partlybecauseof
our lack of orchestration and partlybecauseofour
individualism,”Sackssayswithasmile. He laughs.
“GettingJews to sing in tune! Quite difficult,actu-
ally.Itdid happenonce, the‘Song ofthe Sea’in
Exodus 15.Weremember thatbecausewerecite it
everysingleday.But it’srare.”
Orchestral music usedtofeatureinJudaism.
But the tradition wasabandonedafter theRomans
destroyedthe SecondTemple inJerusalem in
70CE. Afterwards,non-sung music was banned.
Asimilar prohibition of musical instruments can
beobservedin certainstrandsof Protestantism
and Islam. Is theresomething in thevery nature
of music that inspiresreligious distrust?
“It’snot distrust at all,”Sacks saysadamantly,
fixing me withastare. “There’snodistrust,none,