An evening of lively debate on the legacy of Rabbi Dr. Louis Jacobs and the impact of the Jacobs Affair at Avenue House in Finchley, organized by B’nai B’rith First Lodge on 5th October 2011, with Judge Kenneth Zucker, QC, Dr. Jonathan Wolfson, Rabbi Chaim Weiner, and Dr. Lionel Kopelowitz.
In this video, the former President of the Lodge, Martin Aaron, offers some introductory comments to the evening’s debate. Judge Zucker then offers some historical and biographical comments on the subject. His presentation covers the Affair, starting with the publication of Rabbi Jacobs’s controversial book, We Have Reason to Believe, and includes some personal comments on the missed opportunity in Anglo-Jewry to appoint an outstanding scholar and theologian at its head. He offers some remarks on the actual content of Rabbi Jacobs’s book, presenting it as an apologetic work written for a religiously committed readership, following in the vein of Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed.