NEW YORK — Most of what you need to know about Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi of the British commonwealth, is apparent from the story he tells of how his latest book, The Home We Build Together, came to be.

It begins in the prime minister’s study at 10 Downing St., where Sacks would go “regularly” to study the Bible with former British leader Tony Blair. During one of their meetings, Blair — whom Sacks describes as a “very religious man” who reads the Bible daily — asked why only 34 verses are needed to describe the creation of the world, but more than 10 times as many are used to account for the building of the mishkan, the tabernacle the Israelites built in the desert after the Exodus.

Caught off guard, Sacks offered an answer he considered insufficient. Only later, when Britain and other Western European democracies found themselves enduring spasms of social tension brought on by the alienation of young Muslim immigrants, did he arrive at a more thorough understanding. The problem Europeans were facing, Sacks says now, is precisely the problem the Jews faced in the desert: how to unite a diverse people into a nation.

Immediately after Shabbat ended on May 23, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the world’s leading halachic authority, was informed that he has become a great-great-great grandfather.

He has lived to see a sixth-generation descendant.

The birth has been widely discussed in Israel, including the secular news outlets. 

Rabbi Elyashiv’s great-great grandchildren Rabbi Yonoson and Mrs. Devora Honigsberg, announced the birth of their first son.

Rabbi Elyashiv’s great granddaughter, Mrs. Gedalya Honigsberg, became a grandmother for the first time.

Rabbi Elyashiv’s granddaughter Mrs. Shraga Steinman became a great-grandmother for the first time.