Dear Rabbi Lamm, נ"י

I am sure you have not quite forgotten yet the nice little dinner party we had prior to your trip to India in London at the Kedassia Restaurant together with my brother-in-law, Rabbi S. D. Sassoon נ"י, and Mr. L. Carmell נ"י. This is mainly to place myself in your memory.

No doubt you have since heard that last Thursday the Israeli Chief Rabbinate decided that the "Bne Israel" and all other Jews are allowed to inter-marry now. This long awaited and most important decision will of course greatly help towards the consumation of the results of your visit to India. When I read your report of what you had been doing I found it a most lucid and constructive document.

What I have written up to now was meant to bring our personal relationship up to date. The reason of my writing to you today is, however, as follows: –

You most likely know that Dr. I. Epstein נ"י retired as Principal of Jews' College at the end of the summer term. As no full scale successor could be found in the Commonwealth, the Senior Lecturer, Dr. H. Zimmels נ"י, has been appointed Director of Studies, whereas the Chief Rabbi נ"י has been appointed President of the College. A similar arrangement prevailed during the interregnum after the passing of Dr. Buechler זצ"ל. The Chief Rabbi is obviously very concerned in finding a person fully qualified to occupy the position of Principal in due course. As this matter has been in public discussion for the last few months I have actually been thinking of you ever since Dr. Epstein's retirement and even mentioned your name to a member of the College Council, yet I had no chance of talking to the Chief Rabbi before last night when I attended a meeting over which he presided. When he granted me a couple of minutes and listened to me he told me how strange it was that he also had the very same idea after having read your grand article "The Unity Theme and its Implication for Moderns" in the last issue of "Tradition".

Personally speaking I would add that there can be no better qualifications for the position we are discussing than your Halachically superb refutation of Rabbi S. Lieberman’s Kethuvah emendation, on which I complimented you two years ago when it was published, and your latest philosophical essay mentioned. Therefore the Chief Rabbi has specifically asked me, as someone who has the privilege of knowing you personally, to convey to you on his behalf, that he would very much like to know whether you would be prepared to consider occupying the position of Principal of Jews' College on being officially invited to do so.

I shall of course be only too glad to pass on any observations you have to make on the subject to the Chief Rabbi.

Greatly looking forward to hearing from you, I remain,

Yours very sincerely,

A. Feuchtwanger

P.S. I am always intrigued to find that no essay of Jewish thought worth its name can be written without resort to Maharal who is quoted in your footnote of Page 44 and in the middle of Page 54 in your latest essay. As one of the sponsors of the new British Maharal addition I feel I have not been far wrong in co-operating. It might further interest you in connection with the general key note of your essay that over eight years ago I had to explain the famous saying by our teachers of blessed Memory: “If the Jews were to keep two consecutive Sabbaths the Meshiah would not fail to come at once," in the following way – when all Jews on leaving behind one Sabbath at once turned their mind entirely to the following Sabbath as the ultimate goal and justification of all their week day activities, we have automatically reached the time of the Meshiah. Am I mistaken in assuming that your essay would endorse the idea behind this interpretation of mine?