LONDON- British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has asked his publisher, Continuum, to stop promoting and printing The Dignity of Difference until he has completed revisions for a second edition.
His decision followed growing charges from a broad spectrum of the Orthodox community, including his own mainstream United Synagogue movement, that the views he expressed could be regarded as heretical.
While Sacks insists that he stands by the central thesis of the book that Christianity, Islam and Judaism have much to learn from each other he agreed to revise some sections which have provoked fierce criticism.
Sacks wrote that "God has spoken to mankind in many languages: through Judaism to Jews, Christianity to Christians, Islam to Muslims." He went on to assert that "no one creed has a monopoly on spiritual truth; no one civilization encompasses all the spiritual, ethical, and artistic expressions of mankind... In heaven there is truth; on earth there are truths... God is greater than religion; He is only partially comprehended by any faith."
A statement by his spokesman said that "in the interim [before the new edition], the chief rabbi has asked that the publishers refrain from further printing or promoting the first edition. The new edition will reaffirm the thesis of the book a plea for tolerance in an age of extremes while reformulating the phrases and passages that have been misunderstood."
Earlier, Rabbis Bezalel Rakow and Joseph Dunner, respected
leaders of Britain's haredi community, labeled the book a "grave deviation
from the pathways of traditional and authentic Judaism" and declared that
it is "irreconcilable with traditional Jewish teachings" in an
advertisement published in London's Jewish Chronicle.
They called on Sacks "to repudiate the thesis of the book and to withdraw
the book from circulation."
Rakow and Dunner acknowledged the "noble" cause of the book "to reduce world tension and avoid a clash of civilizations" but they noted "with great sadness" that "one of the basic contentions of the book is irreconcilable with traditional Jewish teachings. Any implications that Judaism does not contain absolute truth represents a grave deviation from the pathways of traditional and authentic Judaism."
That public rebuke followed a closed-door meeting in Manchester at which Sacks faced some 20 United Synagogue rabbis and religious court judges who had suggested that the views expressed in the book might be considered heretical.
Following the meeting, Sacks said he had "heard the concerns" and acknowledged that "one or two sentences might be misunderstood." He promised to "make the appropriate amendments in the next possible edition."
But one of the rabbis who was present said the meeting had
been "a dialogue of the deaf."
"Sacks attempted to obfuscate the issue," he said, "and when he
saw that the rabbis and dayanim did not accept his explanation, he said he
would 'think of something.' In my view that's unacceptable."
The rabbis and religious court judges remain profoundly concerned by the views Sacks expressed in the book. The Jewish Chronicle reported last week that an invitation to Sacks to speak at the Encounter conference in Manchester next month the top Jewish educational event in Britain had been withdrawn.