Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth of Great Britain and renowned spiritual leader, philosopher, and author, died last week. Sacks was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005 and awarded a life peerage in the House of Lords in 2009, taking the title Baron Sacks, of Aldgate in the City of London. He was the winner of numerous awards, including the Templeton Prize, American National Jewish Book Award (4 times), The Norman Lamm Prize at Yeshiva University and the Jerusalem Prize. Rabbi Sacks wrote and spoke eloquently on many subjects, including interfaith dialogue, Torah vehokhmah (Torah and Wisdom), materialism, secularism, anti-Semitism and more. Which of the following are among Rabbi Sacks’s writings?

National Poverty Hearing: Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks by cooperniall is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A. During the debate on Great Britain leaving the European Union, Rabbi Sacks criticized the political divisiveness, writing in 2018, “Anyone who engages in divisiveness transgresses a Divine prohibition, as it is written: ‘And he shall not be as Korach and his company’ when the Torah wishes to tell us not to agitate disputes and perpetuate disunity, it does so by saying: Don’t be like Korach….”  

B. In 2014, Rabbi Sacks wrote an essay on the topic of love versus justice. In the essay he stated, “Judaism is a religion of love...But love is not enough. You cannot build a family, let alone a society, on love alone. For that you need justice also...In the 1960s the Beatles sang ‘All you need is love.’ Would that it were so, but it is not.”

C. In 2019, Rabbi Sacks criticized the Labor Party for anti-Semitic comments by leader Jeremy Corbyn, writing, “I do not normally get involved in partisan politics. But I cannot close my eyes to the heinous statements by Mr. Corbyn and too many of his supporters. The party leadership have never understood that their failure is not just one of procedure, which can be remedied with additional staff or new processes. It is a failure to see this as a human problem rather than a political one. It is a failure of culture. It is a failure of leadership. A new poison–sanctioned from the top–has taken root in the Labour party.”

D. In 2015, Rabbi Sacks wrote an essay imploring Jews to be proactive in working to reduce global warming. He listed numerous quotes from the Torah, the Talmud and other sources, starting with Genesis 2:15, “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it.” He went on to criticize those who do not believe in climate science, writing, “It’s a family joke that when I was a tiny child I turned from the window out of which I was watching a snowstorm, and hopefully asked, ‘Momma, do we believe in winter?’ ”

E. Rabbi Sacks criticized consumerism, writing in 2011, “The consumer society was laid down by the late Steve Jobs coming down the mountain with two tablets, iPad 1 and iPad 2, and the result is that we now have a culture of iPod, iPhone, iTune, I, I, I.”

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Alex Trebek, host of Jeopardy since 1984, died this week after an 18-month battle against pancreatic cancer. The winner of seven Emmy Awards, Trebek was also known as an activist and philanthropist, supporting causes including World Vision Canada and the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue at the University of Ottawa. One of the fun aspects of the Jeopardy program is that on many occasions, the categories are given clever names, often with puns. Which of the following is a real Jeopardy category that contained an answer and question of Jewish content?

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A. The answer “This friar who headed the Spanish Inquisition also persuaded Ferdinand & Isabella to expel the Jews” [Question: Who was Torquemada?] appeared in the category EUROPE TO NO GOOD.

B. The answer “As the rest of the Jews entered the promised land, Moses died aged about 120 on this mount” [Question: What was  Mt. Nebo?] appeared in the category EVERYTHING’S COMING UP MOSES.

C. The answer “In this author’s Night, Moshe the Beadle warns the Jews of Sighet about the looming holocaust, but they don’t listen” [Question: Who was Elie Wiesel?] appeared in the category MEET THE BEADLES.

D. The answer “Joseph II freed the serfs & ended discrimination against Jews during his 18th century reign as this emperor” [Question: What was Holy Roman Emperor?] appeared in the category SERFS UP.

E. The answer “For his role in Nazi Germany’s mass murder of the Jews, he was hanged in Israel May 31, 1962” [Question: Who was Adolf Eichmann?], appeared in the category NAMES IN THE NOOSE.

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Speaking in 2013, Joe Biden said of the Jewish people, “You make up 11 percent of the seats in the United States Congress. You make up one-third of all Nobel laureates. So many notions that are embraced by this nation that particularly emanate from over 5,000 years of Jewish history, tradition and culture: independence, individualism, fairness, decency, justice, charity.” He concluded by saying what?

Joe Biden - Caricature by DonkeyHotey is licensed under CC BY 2.0

A. “These are all as you say, as I learned early on as a Catholic being educated by my friends, this tzedakah.”

B. “These are all as you say, as I learned early on as a Catholic being educated by my friends, this mitzvah.”

C. “These are all as you say, as I learned early on as a Catholic being educated by my friends, this chutzpah.”

D. “These are all as you say, as I learned early on as a Catholic being educated by my friends, this yiddisher kop.”

E. “These are all as you say, as I learned early on as a Catholic being educated by my friends, this kreplach.”

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Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and personal attorney to President Donald Trump, is in the news because of his controversial appearance in Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.  In the film, Giuliani was being interviewed in a hotel room by Borat’s daughter, and at some point he put his hand in his pants (according to Giuliani he was tucking in his shirt). Rudy Giuliani once controversially said the following about someone who is Jewish: “I’m more of a Jew than [he/she] is.” Whom was he referring to?

Rudy Giuliani - Caricature by DonkeyHotey is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

A. Former Democratic New York mayor Ed Koch, when Rudy ran against him in the mayoral contest of 1989 (both men lost, with David Dinkins becoming mayor).

B. Investor and philanthropist George Soros, whom many on the right criticize because of his support for progressive causes.

C. Michael Bloomberg, who ran for mayor at the end of Rudy Giuliani’s two terms. Giuliani endorsed Bloomberg at the time, but the two men started feuding when Bloomberg began his short-lived campaign for the presidency against Donald Trump in 2019.

D. Barbara Streisand, who spoke at the annual meeting of the Jewish Democratic Council of America in October, 2019, criticizing Giuliani for his involvement in the Trump Ukraine scandal.

E. Jesus Christ, who supposedly retweeted Joe Biden’s comment about Rudy Giuliani, “There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence – a noun, a verb, and 9/11.”

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