He Was The Best We Had (Written At News Of The Untimely Loss Of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks) Poem by Shalom Freedman

He was the best we had
The best the Jewish people had
As teacher of Judaism
As thinker
As inspiration and hope-giver
The one in all the years
That I most respected
And wanted to learn from
And learned each day from
His weekly readings of the parsha
The one who spoke with such beauty wisdom and empathy
A lover of humanity of the Jewish people of God
I wept and weep for him as if he were my close friend
I do not know if I will ever get over his loss
For there is no one close to his stature
To replace him
We have the books and the wonderful videos
He will continue to teach us
But his presence his warmth his speaking to the crisis of the moment
They are lost
We will not hear from him anew again
I cannot tell you how sorry how sad I
And so many others are and must be
Our best is lost
May God bless and love him forever
As he taught so many of us
To walk in the ways of Torah
In love of God.