Introduction to the House of Lords

The Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks officially became a peer on 27th October 2009 when he was introduced to the House of Lords as Lords Sacks of Aldgate. He was sponsored by Lord Winston and the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey. Explaining why he had chosen to nominate the East End of London district, the Chief Rabbi said;

“My late father sold cloth in Commercial Road and my grandmother ran Frumkins Wine Shop. I wanted not to forget my roots. That’s where I used to help out when I was a child, and where my earliest memories are.”

Aldgate is also associated with his office since the Great Synagogue in Duke’s Place used to be the seat of the Chief Rabbi, until it was destroyed in the Second World War.