[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16497]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              RECOGNIZING CHIEF RABBI LORD JONATHAN SACKS

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Madam President, I thank our leader. Again, I have had 
many conversations about things political, which will not surprise 
anybody who is hearing me speak. But perhaps people will be surprised 
that Senator Reid and I have probably had as many conversations about 
matters spiritual and personal. Those conversations tie us together 
forever.
  It is my honor to welcome to the Senate Jonathan Sacks, the chief 
rabbi of the United Kingdom, and to thank our extraordinary Chaplain 
Barry Black for joining me in hosting the chief rabbi.
  The truth is that I knew Chief Rabbi Sacks from his writings before I 
knew him personally. He has written 24 books, the most recent of which 
was published earlier this year, called ``The Great Partnership, God, 
Science and the Search for Meaning.'' His writing is extremely 
insightful. It is broadly accessible. Perhaps paraphrasing the old 
commercial--and the occupant of the chair, being from New York, will 
remember this about Levy's Jewish Rye: ``You don't have to be Jewish to 
love Levy's Jewish Rye.'' Well, you don't have to be Jewish to benefit 
from Rabbi Sack's writing.
  He is the sixth incumbent of the Chief Rabbi position in the United 
Kingdom, having served in that position since 1991. The role was 
formalized in 1845. He was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in 2005, 
and then on the 27th of October, 2009, was made a life peer, taking his 
seat in the House of Lords, where he sits on the cross benches as Baron 
Sacks of Aldgate in the City of London. So we welcome Rabbi Sacks not 
just as the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom but as a member of a 
fellow legislative body. He has spoken with remarkable wisdom and 
insight and has formed my faith in so many ways.
  As I heard him give the opening prayer today, I could not help but 
think that he stands in a proud tradition that began with those 
remarkable Christian reformists who left England to come more than two 
or three centuries ago to our shores, forming the United States of 
America more than two centuries ago, and in our founding documents, 
responding to their faith, but also creating the foundation of the 
liberties that succeeding generations of Americans have enjoyed and 
that we in this Chamber work hard to protect and strengthen every day.
  Again, I thank the Chair and the leader. I particularly thank Chief 
Rabbi Sacks for honoring us with his presence and his words today.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.

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