The Chief Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sacks, has issued a new version of his latest book after Orthodox rabbis condemned his views on the validity of other religions as "heretical".
In the new edition of The Dignity of Difference, published yesterday, Dr. Sacks has altered or deleted passages which critics said had blurred the distinction between Judaism and other faiths.
The book, in paperback, contains a preface acknowledging that certain passages had been "misunderstood", an understatement given the huge controversy they provoked.
Even the Chief Rabbi's own beth din, or religious court, said that parts of the original version were open to "an interpretation which was inconsistent with basic Jewish beliefs".
The most withering attack was made by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, of Jerusalem, regarded as a leading Orthodox authority on Jewish law. He said the book contained views "contrary to our faith in the Holy Torah" and was therefore unfit to be bought into the home.
Dr Sacks said that he had rephrased "those passages about which concern was raised, as well as removing incidental references to evolutionary theory and the age of the universe".
He said: "The Dignity of Difference remains the most forceful argument I could make for tolerance in an age of extremes. I firmly believe that it represents the right Judaic response to some of the most formidable problems of the 21st century."
Among the changes, which are reported in this week's Jewish Chronicle, are:
"The radical transcendence of God in the Hebrew Bible means nothing more nor less than that there is a difference between God and religion. God is universal, religions are particular . . . In the course of history, God has spoken to mankind in many languages: through Judaism to Jews, Christianity to Christians, Islam to Muslims" becomes "The radical transcendence of God in the Hebrew Bible means that the Infinite lies beyond our finite understanding . . . As Jews we believe that God has made a covenant with a singular people, but that does not exclude the possibility of other peoples, cultures and faiths finding their own relationship with God within the shared frame of the Noahide law".
"In Heaven there is one truth; on Earth there are truths. Therefore, each culture has something to contribute" becomes "Each culture has something to contribute to the totality of human wisdom".
"The way I have discovered . . . is that the truth at the beating heart of monotheism is that God is greater than religion; that He is only partially comprehended by any faith. He is my God, but also your God. He is on my side, but also on your side. He exists not only in my faith, but also in yours"
becomes "The way I have discovered . . . is that the truth at the beating heart of monotheism is that God transcends the particularities of culture and the limits of human understanding. He is my God but also the God of all mankind, even of those whose customs and way of life are unlike mine".