Letter of Gratitude to Dr. Belkin for Professorship at Yeshiva University (1965)

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Letter of Appreciation to Dr. Kaminetsky for Address to Torah Umesorah Dinner (1962)

Dear Joe: I want to let you know what kind of a wonderful impression your report to the Torah Umesorah Annual Dinner on Sunday night made upon me and all others who were sitting in my area, both from The Jewish Center and from without. Your report was filled with fascinating material and you held the interest of your audience every moment – no mean feat at all. I particularly admired your exemplary self-restraint in avoiding “stories” or homiletics, which is a professional danger with us. Many more years of health and strength in your fabulous work for Torah. Cordially yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm.

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Letter to Dr. Belkin about Areas of Research for YU Institute of Ethics (1966)

I suggest the following special problems be included as areas for research in Jewish ethics. (1) The problem of Biblical Wars. What is their ethical justification? Does the interpretation of the Oral Law mitigate the ethical problem? Does the problem have any relevance to the contemporary problem of "just wars?" (2) "Holocaust Theology" – Research into Jewish theodicy, and a study of contemporary writings, in an attempt to meet the ethical challenge of justice in a world in which 6 million Jews were killed. The ethical formulation of the classical metaphysical problem: is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the God of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Dachau? (3) Illegitimacy – How do we reconcile the limitation on the freedom of an illegitimate child with the ethical principle that every man suffers for his own sins?The treatment of the Non-Jew in HalakhaThe treatment of women in Halakha – The question of their disqualification as witnesses; inheritance; and the Agunah. The ethical problems in this area should also include that of Halitzah: why is the brother-in-law faulted in the ceremony, when he is forbidden to marry the Yebamah by Rabbinical interdiction?RNL/h

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Letter of Gratitude from Rabbi Lamm's Family (1968)

Dear Norman, I hope that this does not embarrass you too greatly, but it is all very deeply felt and meant. Our beloved Zeida (ע״ה) would have much nachas from the wonderful name you have made for yourself; your wisdom and learning; and the high position in the Orthodox Jewish circles that you held. But, I feel, that he would have been most proud and pleased to know that you, like he, throughout his blessed life, will always make the time and find the compassion to help those less fortunate than yourself. You, of all of us, come closest to...

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