In November 2021 I had the privilege of participating in a short film honouring the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks as part of a special evening celebrating his life and legacy as he was posthumously given the Genesis Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth for 22 years. He gained global renown as a teacher of Jewish values, philosopher, prolific author and proponent of inter-religious dialogue. I was fortunate to spend time with Rabbi Sacks on several occasions for my project Encounters. I attended interfaith meetings in Jerusalem, Rome and Washington DC, and gained an incredible insight into Rabbi Sacks’ dedication to promoting interfaith dialogue and his belief that it is through our relationships with those that are different from us that we grow. In 2013, I was asked to create a portrait to celebrate the Chief Rabbi’s legacy and to mark his retirement. We worked together to mix the perfect shade for the background, which I named ‘Chief Rabbi Blue’.

I wanted to create this blog to commemorate Rabbi Sacks and share some of my photographs and artworks from throughout the years.

Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He leaves behind a legacy as one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, one who bridged the religious and secular world through his remarkable and ground-breaking canon of work.