New York’s Yeshiva University is to open a new centre to commemorate Rabbi Lord Sacks who taught there for many years until his death last year.

The announcement came as communities around the world marked his first yahrzeit with learning events this week.

The Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Centre for Values and Leadership will be dedicated to disseminating his teachings.

Rabbi Sacks taught at the religious university for several months a year after being made a professor at the university in 2013.

YU president Ari Berman said the university’s mission was to “inspire the leaders of tomorrow” and Rabbi Sacks “uniquely exemplified and articulated” its worldview.

Rabbi Sacks’s widow, Elaine, said, “My husband's relationship with Yeshiva University was one he treasured over many decades.

“We always enjoyed our visits to the campus, in large part because of the warm reception he always received and, most importantly, because of what Yeshiva University stood for: a combination of Torah u'madda, of Torah knowledge and worldly wisdom.

“It was this combination that framed my husband's life and work.That is why it means a great deal to me and my family to see his legacy and teachings continue in this way at Yeshiva University."