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PRESS RELEASE: WUC EXPRESSES ITS SADNESS & CONDOLENCES OVER THE DEATH OF RABBI LORD SACKS

PRESS RELEASE: WUC EXPRESSES ITS SADNESS & CONDOLENCES OVER THE DEATH OF RABBI LORD SACKS

Press Release – For immediate release
7 November 2020
Contact: World Uyghur Congress
 www.uyghurcongress.org
+49 89 5432 1999 or  [email protected]

The World Uyghur Congress joins today with the entire Jewish community and the far wider community of people who mourn the loss of the former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, Lord Sacks.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks was not only a towering moral and religious leader and public intellectual, he was also a great champion for human rights, human dignity and inter-religious dialogue. 

Earlier this year, Rabbi Lord Sacks spoke out against the atrocities suffered by the Uyghur people, when he said: “As a Jew, knowing our history, the sight of people being shaven headed, lined up, boarded onto trains, and sent to concentration camps is particularly harrowing. That people in the 21st century are being murdered, terrorised, victimised, intimidated and robbed of their liberties because of the way they worship God is a moral outrage, a political scandal and a desecration of faith itself.”

In his numerous books and writings, Rabbi Lord Sacks always promoted freedom of religion or belief for all and sought to counter religious extremism, hatred and intolerance. The very titles of some of his books – The Dignity of Difference, The Home We Build Together, To Heal A Fractured World, Not in God’s Name and Morality – reveal the profound instincts and values that guided him, to build communities based on unity in diversity, respect for difference and a search for common ground. 

In his book To Heal a Fractured World, he wrote: “Against the fundamentalisms of hate, we must create a counter-fundamentalism of love … ‘A little light’, said the Jewish mystics, ‘drives away much darkness’. And when light is joined to light, mine to yours and yours to others, the dance of flames, each so small, yet together so intricately beautiful, begins to show that hope is not an illusion. Evil, injustice, oppression, cruelty do not have the final word.” 

In one of his last writings in July this year, he said, “When the world allows the dehumanization of the Other, evil follows, as night follows day. Today, this is happening to the [Uyghur] population in China and it must be challenged by the global community in the strongest possible terms.” 

Dolkun Isa, President of the WUC, said: 

“The WUC salutes the life, work and inspirational example of Rabbi Lord Sacks as one of the greatest moral thinkers and religious leaders of our time, and we express our gratitude especially for his moral courage in speaking out for the Uyghurs facing some of the gravest mass atrocity crimes in the world today. We express our sincere condolences to his family, his own community and to all who loved him. As we mourn and grieve his loss, let us be inspired by his example and his writings. The best way to pay tribute to him is to continue his work for peace, human dignity and human rights throughout the world. May he rest in peace.”