The Book Rabbi Sacks zt"l Couldn't Stop Giving Away
When Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt”l recommended a book as “an astonishingly inspiring book” and “one of the most inspirations books I have ever read,” it’s hard not to take notice.
A few years ago, I listened to a podcast where Rabbi Sacks zt”l was interviewed by popular media host Tim Ferriss. Tim asked Rabbi Sacks to explain why “The Choice” by Edith Eger was so meaningful to him and is the book that he gifted more than any other.
Rabbi Sacks went on to describe with great passion and enthusiasm why “the Choice” made such a profound impact on him and why it wasn’t “just another Holocaust book.” Rabbi Sacks acknowledged that “there are tens, and maybe hundreds of thousands, of them. And I try and read some, but I can’t possibly read all. But this… became a bestseller…I thought, ‘I must read this.’”
With that recommendation, I couldn’t resist and spent the next few days devouring this extraordinary book. And this past week, with the passing of Dr. Edith Eger, that recommendation, and her message, feels even more powerful and enduring.
Like so many others, Edith was just a teenager when her family was taken from their home in Hungary and sent to Auschwitz. And tragically, like so many others, Edith was immediately separated from her parents, both of whom she never saw again. Edith and her sister Magda managed to stay together and survived the camps together.
After the war, Edith rebuilt her life, becoming a renowned psychologist. Her central message — that we cannot control what happens to us, but we can always choose how we respond — is one that resonates deeply with Jewish values of resilience, hope, and human dignity.
Rabbi Sacks saw in Edith’s story a profound affirmation of the human spirit’s capacity to choose freedom even in the darkest of circumstances. That is a message as relevant and powerful today as ever.