Reason to Believe: The Controversial Life of Rabbi Louis Jacobs
Ebook
Louis Jacobs was Britain's most gifted Jewish scholar. A Talmudic genius, outstanding teacher and accomplished author, cultured and easy-going, he was widely expected to become Britain's next Chief Rabbi.
Then controversy struck. The Chief Rabbi refused to appoint him as Principal of Jews' College, the country's premier rabbinic college. He further forbade him from returning as rabbi to his former synagogue. All because of a book Jacobs had written some years earlier, challenging from a rational perspective the traditional belief in the origins of the Torah.
The British Jewish community was torn apart. It was a scandal unlike anything they had ever previously endured. The national media loved it. Jacobs became a cause celebre, a beacon of reason, a humble man who wouldn't be compromised. His congregation resigned en masse and created a new synagogue for him in Abbey Road, the heart of fashionable 1960s London. It became the go-to venue for Jews seeking reasonable answers to questions of faith.
A prolific author of over 50 books and hundreds of articles on every aspect of Judaism, from the basics of religious belief to the complexities of mysticism and law, Louis Jacobs won the heart and affection of the mainstream British Jewish community. When the Jewish Chronicle ran a poll to discover the Greatest British Jew, Jacobs won hands down. He said it made him feel daft.
Reason To Believe tells the dramatic and touching story of Louis Jacobs's life, and of the human drama lived out by his family, deeply wounded by his rejection.
A biography of Louis Jacobs, rabbi, theologian and author of the highly controversial book on Jewish thought and religion, We Have Reason to Believe.
The first in-depth biography of Rabbi Louis Jacobs drawing on interviews with his family, colleagues and friends and explaining the wider context around 'The Jacobs Affair' which split the Jewish community in the United Kingdom
Harry Freedman is an author with the ability to convey religious and historical subjects in the most accessible and engaging way. He has had access to Jacobs' archives and interviewed numerous people who knew and worked with him.
This book will appeal to a readership with an appetite for books of a Jewish interest but also a wider audience who recall this recent history and wish to understand more about Louis Jacobs the man and theologian and the sequence of events that led to this near-schism in the Jewish church
List of Illustrations
Introduction
1 An Unlikely Rabbi
2 Becoming an English Rabbi
3 A Reasonable Faith
4 High Society
5 In the Limelight
6 Jews' College
7 Friends in Need
8 A Bigger Affair
9 New London Synagogue
10 An International Reputation
11 Stability
12 A Mood, not a Movement
13 Out of the Pulpit
14 Personal Belief
15 Winding Down
Notes
Glossary
Acknowledgements
For Further Reading
Index
A Note on the Author
- Title: Reason to Believe: The Controversial Life of Rabbi Louis Jacobs
- Author: Harry Freedman
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Continuum
- Print Publication Date: 2020
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781472979377, 9781472979384, 1472979389, 1472979370
- Resource ID: LLS:9781472979377
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-05-15T04:32:51Z
Harry Freedman is Britain's leading author of popular works of Jewish culture and history. His publications include The Talmud: A Biography, Kabbalah: Secrecy, Scandal and the Soul, The Murderous History of Bible Translations Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius and Britain's Jews. He has a PhD on an Aramaic translation of the Bible from the University of London. He lives in London with his wife Karen. You can follow his regular articles on harryfreedman.substack.com.