Rabbi Lord Sacks, chief rabbi, broadcaster and moral philosopher, died on November 7th, aged 72. Every morning he could, Jonathan Sacks pulled on his tracksuit and went out jogging. He was not called the "rapid rabbi" for nothing. Jogging, as his desk-sign reminded him, led to positive thinking. And, thanks to his noise-cancelling earphones, it brought him peace. He heard nothing as he ran but Schubert, Beethoven, or whoever it might be. Those same earphones, one of the best purchases he had ever made, also enabled him when he meditated to hear the music of creation, the quiet voice of wisdom within it, and his response, from his spontaneous waking "Modeh Ani", "I give thanks", onwards. Otherwise, the noise was hard to lose. Every year the voices became more strident and extreme.

Consumerism cried "I want! I want!" Individualism cried "Me! Me! My choices, my feelings!" until even the iPhone and iPad he used all the time vexed him with their "I, I, I". Society had become a cacophony of competing claims. The world gave every sign of falling apart. Even religion, his business, could be a megaphone of hate.

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