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Celebrating Life: Finding Happiness in Unexpected Places
Following the painful loss of his father, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks began to learn how to celebrate life in a new way. This is lively and insightful collection of short pieces reflecting on the happiness he has discovered through family life, children, community, faith, and friendship. Jonathan Sacks has been Chief Rabbi for the British Commonwealth since 1991; he is the author of "The Politics of Hope."
208 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2000
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325 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Sacks
227 books444 followersRabbi Lord Jonathan Henry Sacks was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. His Hebrew name was Yaakov Zvi.
Serving as the chief rabbi in the United Kingdom from 1991 to 2013, Sacks gained fame both in the secular world and in Jewish circles. He was a sought-after voice on issues of war and peace, religious fundamentalism, ethics, and the relationship between science and religion, among other topics. Sacks wrote more than 20 books.
Rabbi Sacks died November 2020 after a short bout with cancer. He was 72.
Serving as the chief rabbi in the United Kingdom from 1991 to 2013, Sacks gained fame both in the secular world and in Jewish circles. He was a sought-after voice on issues of war and peace, religious fundamentalism, ethics, and the relationship between science and religion, among other topics. Sacks wrote more than 20 books.
Rabbi Sacks died November 2020 after a short bout with cancer. He was 72.
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October 13, 2022Jewish holiday season be like, I haven't updated the books I've read and now my Goodreads is an actual mess.
Anyways, I read this book instead of awkwardly communicating with a friend's family members. Review to come!
For now:
Top 20 things I’m Taking With Me From My Degree (Cause whoaa, i’m done and slowly coming to terms with it!)
1. Failing Game Theory, Microeconomics and Price Theory I was incredibly painful but I think I’m a better person for it. I learned more through failing than I ever did in any field that was intuitive. I’ll never judge anyone from not succeeding academically or otherwise. Sometimes, you do your best and it’s not enough. I am grateful to have experienced what it means when something doesn’t come easily, doesn’t come at all, no matter what you do.
2. I know the best libraries on campus. And the best cafes in the area. And the best rooftops.
3. I spent two years learning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Cafes in East Jerusalem, political arguments in Nazareth, violence in Damascus Gate, Shabbats full of arguments about Zionism, trying to explain this region to Americans, Germans and the Dutch, Knesset conferences, asking friends who served in combat roles unapologetic questions, the fear of dying in a car accident in the West Bank, meeting people who challenged every single thought I have but still never made me feel hated or stupid for having them. I read more than is healthy. I don’t know if this romance is over and if this will eventually become a career but I do know that I didn’t expect this to happen and I’m so glad that it did. The opportunity to learn so much and through so many different people. I have so much more to learn.
4. When you go through a mental breakdown in the end of second year and call your mom crying about finance, it will feel like the end of the world. It’s not.
5. The grades I’m proudest of? 100 in the class about conflicts, pouring my soul into an academic paper, hours in the library. The 94 in the class about Binationalism, using terminology I hate (ugh, settler colonialism) and still finding myself fully. 100 and 95 in my two dissertations, both written with so much anxiety. 108 in a Logics exam, second try. 99 in a class about international economics, delaying my entire exam season for it, unable to let go of my perfectionism. 96 in Historical Politics, a phenomenal class that taught me so so much. Fuck yes.
6. You can fly abroad during your semester and nothing bad happens. You can even do it twice. No regrets. Thanks, the Hague and Berlin.
7. When a professor calls you in for a meeting directly after grading papers, your anxiety will always convince you that it’s because they think you plagiarized. It’s not. They want to ask you about a PhD. When you admit you’re doing an MBA, they will frown and you will list excuses. When it happens 3 times, it's okay to admit to yourself that your imposter syndrome is a goddamn liar.
8. “Politics is the dual game of competition and cooperation” = gamechanger moment. Politics is about working together and winning, about creating and destroying, about unity and individual identity. I didn’t know I’d love Politics so much but somehow, in those first year massive lecture halls, I fell in love. In between discussing Singapore’s government model, telling stories about activism and chatting about our childhoods, I realized this is my field.
9. When you’re a young economics student, you pay attention to the model’s conclusions. When you get more experience, you follow the premises of the model cause that’s where economists hide their BS. Never trust economists, never believe them, never let economists feel confident in their work.
10. Getting covid was a genuine delight, I am so glad I got to plan it in my schedule and experience it as I wanted. I look so fondly on those memories, getting a week long vacation exactly when I needed it.
11. After traveling for a year, I thought my world was wide but university made it even wider. Long conversations about Ethiopian culture (”you do henna?? isn’t that a Mizrahi thing????”), meeting with Haredim and getting answers for all the questions, working on Turkish-Israeli relations (who have improved massively, no need to thank us), chatting with Druze people about the Torah, learning about Belarus and Kenya and Peru from my lovely flatmates and so much more.
12. Walking through the hallways, devoid of people, feeling like I am the only person on earth in the most post-apocalyptic way. 2021 was different.
13. Building friendships with university guards is the best way to make the campus feel like home. Those private jokes (”your coffee needs a cap”, “the cats will attack from the tree”) made my mornings.
14. My computer survived. Sorry, naysayers, it is thriving. Gotta have faith in broken technology. Totally ready to face the MBA now.
15. I snuck into a course about African Politics and had a total blast.
16. It is possible to finish a third of an economics degree without knowing how to use integrals. And fractions. When you make basic math mistakes in exams, no one corrects you cause they assume you know better, that it's stress not ignorance.
17. I listened to Folklore and Evermore more times that I care to publicly admit. The soundtrack of my studying since the day it came out. And Non-Stop will always remind me of my philosophy dissertation. And I can’t listen to Gang of Youths without remembering my politics dissertation. Candles, blankets, soft acoustic music and so much course reading.
18. I never felt like a PPE student, constantly felt lacking next to my classmates. And once covid ended, I learned that actually, it was all in my head. All of my classmates were struggling. No one really feels fully like a PPE student.
19. Writing summaries of the course readings for several classes is such a flex of mine. No need to thank me, future generations. Why yes, I did pick the hardest texts and explain them in basic language.
20. Endless Zoom study sessions. So many. In coffeeshops and every corner of campus. Outside. In bed. I fell asleep listening to John Broome’s visiting Zoom lecture, best nap I’ve ever had. Sorry.
Anyways, I read this book instead of awkwardly communicating with a friend's family members. Review to come!
For now:
Top 20 things I’m Taking With Me From My Degree (Cause whoaa, i’m done and slowly coming to terms with it!)
1. Failing Game Theory, Microeconomics and Price Theory I was incredibly painful but I think I’m a better person for it. I learned more through failing than I ever did in any field that was intuitive. I’ll never judge anyone from not succeeding academically or otherwise. Sometimes, you do your best and it’s not enough. I am grateful to have experienced what it means when something doesn’t come easily, doesn’t come at all, no matter what you do.
2. I know the best libraries on campus. And the best cafes in the area. And the best rooftops.
3. I spent two years learning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Cafes in East Jerusalem, political arguments in Nazareth, violence in Damascus Gate, Shabbats full of arguments about Zionism, trying to explain this region to Americans, Germans and the Dutch, Knesset conferences, asking friends who served in combat roles unapologetic questions, the fear of dying in a car accident in the West Bank, meeting people who challenged every single thought I have but still never made me feel hated or stupid for having them. I read more than is healthy. I don’t know if this romance is over and if this will eventually become a career but I do know that I didn’t expect this to happen and I’m so glad that it did. The opportunity to learn so much and through so many different people. I have so much more to learn.
4. When you go through a mental breakdown in the end of second year and call your mom crying about finance, it will feel like the end of the world. It’s not.
5. The grades I’m proudest of? 100 in the class about conflicts, pouring my soul into an academic paper, hours in the library. The 94 in the class about Binationalism, using terminology I hate (ugh, settler colonialism) and still finding myself fully. 100 and 95 in my two dissertations, both written with so much anxiety. 108 in a Logics exam, second try. 99 in a class about international economics, delaying my entire exam season for it, unable to let go of my perfectionism. 96 in Historical Politics, a phenomenal class that taught me so so much. Fuck yes.
6. You can fly abroad during your semester and nothing bad happens. You can even do it twice. No regrets. Thanks, the Hague and Berlin.
7. When a professor calls you in for a meeting directly after grading papers, your anxiety will always convince you that it’s because they think you plagiarized. It’s not. They want to ask you about a PhD. When you admit you’re doing an MBA, they will frown and you will list excuses. When it happens 3 times, it's okay to admit to yourself that your imposter syndrome is a goddamn liar.
8. “Politics is the dual game of competition and cooperation” = gamechanger moment. Politics is about working together and winning, about creating and destroying, about unity and individual identity. I didn’t know I’d love Politics so much but somehow, in those first year massive lecture halls, I fell in love. In between discussing Singapore’s government model, telling stories about activism and chatting about our childhoods, I realized this is my field.
9. When you’re a young economics student, you pay attention to the model’s conclusions. When you get more experience, you follow the premises of the model cause that’s where economists hide their BS. Never trust economists, never believe them, never let economists feel confident in their work.
10. Getting covid was a genuine delight, I am so glad I got to plan it in my schedule and experience it as I wanted. I look so fondly on those memories, getting a week long vacation exactly when I needed it.
11. After traveling for a year, I thought my world was wide but university made it even wider. Long conversations about Ethiopian culture (”you do henna?? isn’t that a Mizrahi thing????”), meeting with Haredim and getting answers for all the questions, working on Turkish-Israeli relations (who have improved massively, no need to thank us), chatting with Druze people about the Torah, learning about Belarus and Kenya and Peru from my lovely flatmates and so much more.
12. Walking through the hallways, devoid of people, feeling like I am the only person on earth in the most post-apocalyptic way. 2021 was different.
13. Building friendships with university guards is the best way to make the campus feel like home. Those private jokes (”your coffee needs a cap”, “the cats will attack from the tree”) made my mornings.
14. My computer survived. Sorry, naysayers, it is thriving. Gotta have faith in broken technology. Totally ready to face the MBA now.
15. I snuck into a course about African Politics and had a total blast.
16. It is possible to finish a third of an economics degree without knowing how to use integrals. And fractions. When you make basic math mistakes in exams, no one corrects you cause they assume you know better, that it's stress not ignorance.
17. I listened to Folklore and Evermore more times that I care to publicly admit. The soundtrack of my studying since the day it came out. And Non-Stop will always remind me of my philosophy dissertation. And I can’t listen to Gang of Youths without remembering my politics dissertation. Candles, blankets, soft acoustic music and so much course reading.
18. I never felt like a PPE student, constantly felt lacking next to my classmates. And once covid ended, I learned that actually, it was all in my head. All of my classmates were struggling. No one really feels fully like a PPE student.
19. Writing summaries of the course readings for several classes is such a flex of mine. No need to thank me, future generations. Why yes, I did pick the hardest texts and explain them in basic language.
20. Endless Zoom study sessions. So many. In coffeeshops and every corner of campus. Outside. In bed. I fell asleep listening to John Broome’s visiting Zoom lecture, best nap I’ve ever had. Sorry.
April 11, 2025
A nice collection of essays by chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks. If you read it as a devotional book, it will certainly be a benefit.
September 12, 2016
This book changed my life. In February of 2006 I was depressed to the point of suicidal thoughts, in July of 2006 I read this book and it taught me how to get a hold on my depression and it helped me to shift my attitude. In 2016, I still take the lessons I learned from that book and apply it to my life.
February 25, 2024
Practical wisdom from this welspoken Rabbi. When he says how things work, it sounds not only true, but also easy, wich in its turn probably is not true, but it helps one to get going again.
Like when he says, the main forces in western society are politics and market, both zero sum games, and what we need is non-zero sum games, like togetherness, community and friendship. True, but not happening anytime soon. Unless maybe I can so something for someone tomorow. See, the book is working already
Like when he says, the main forces in western society are politics and market, both zero sum games, and what we need is non-zero sum games, like togetherness, community and friendship. True, but not happening anytime soon. Unless maybe I can so something for someone tomorow. See, the book is working already
October 1, 2024
This is a collection of essays based, in part, on the Rabbi's columns in the UK's Times newspaper. Each essay is a short read, maybe 2 pages, and has a central idea and stories. Sometimes I cannot read a deep chapter in one sitting but want something to think about. This is a perfect dose of reading. Of course, many of the essays have central ideas that were expounded upon in others of the Rabbi's works. This book could form the basis of many a discussion.
August 3, 2020
A great read, Celebrating Life is a collection of experiences common to people of any background, interpreted as blank canvases by Sacks- the colours filled in alongside the reader as we share them with the Chief Rabbi.
October 25, 2020
I read this book probably nearly 20 years ago so this a re-read. Still fresh and breathtaking...
February 18, 2022
A wise and soothing read.
May 26, 2024
Everyone can be happy... it is within... you just have to find it. Another good one to read and share.
June 29, 2024
One of the greatest minds of his generation.
November 5, 2025
El libro más bonito que he leído, punto.
Fácil, ligero pero a la vez tan profundo. Es un verdadero placer leer a Rab. Jonathan Sacks; una verdadera guía para vivir con más sentido y plenitud.
Fácil, ligero pero a la vez tan profundo. Es un verdadero placer leer a Rab. Jonathan Sacks; una verdadera guía para vivir con más sentido y plenitud.
July 2, 2022
This collection of short reflections by the late Chief Rabbi, largely based on previous Telegraph columns, has been reissued in the wake of his death. But even though they date from the turn of the millennium (which he points out is a Christian rather than a Jewish phenomenon) they are still pertinent today. They are grouped according to common themes and whilst they neither form a continuous thesis or go into the depths that I might have desired, Sacks packs more insight into a three page reflection than I have read in entire books of this length. I will be returning to this book again and seeking out more of his more developed writings.
September 19, 2012
fantastic, concise, deep
July 14, 2009
Interesting read generally; liked the essay format so easy to skip those which seemed less relevant.
July 7, 2014
Chock full of wisdom, this is a book to read slowly & savor.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews