Home Home / Celebrating a Life at Yeshiva: An Inter…

Interview

May 12, 2003

Celebrating a Life at Yeshiva: An Interview with R. Lamm (2003)

Biographical Material
View The Text

This content is currently available in its original PDF format. As we expand the library, we plan to add a text version as well.

RELATED CONTENT

Tribute

Happy Birthday, Rabbi Lamm (2007)

If you were to ask Mindy Lamm which publication would be one of the first to wish her husband a happy eightieth birthday, she probably wouldn't guess The Commentator. In fact, if she guessed a hundred times, it's doubtful that Yeshiva College's official student newspaper would ever escape her lips. Though a history of YC's newspaper has yet to be written, it is apparent to anyone familiar that Commentator editors and Rabbi Lamm rarely worked in concert with one another. As Rabbi Lamm prepares for the final third of his life, we are honored to break that longstanding tradition and help celebrate the achievements of one of our community's valiant warriors.It seems unnecessary to list Rabbi Lamm's scholarly achievements and administrative impact. Creativity was his mark, and it led to both cheers and boos. He took original positions that made him a hero for many and possibly too original to others. His annual shiur klali in the Main Beit Midrash demonstrated both his personal erudition and intellectual openness by citing the Gaon of Vilna and Tertullian. His conception of Torah u-Madda has comforted many, while appearing elitist and impractical to others. Undaunted by conventionalism and critics from inside and outside Yeshiva, Rabbi Lamm has always made sure be candid with his thoughts and remarks, and never shy to offer comments he knows that some will scoff.It has been suggested that the sign of a gadol is one's ability to be meikel when others prefer to stay conservatively machmir. If this is the case, then it follows that the sign of a scholar is the ability to write with conviction, when others prefer to be less than daring. While today's students struggle with the University's ideology, and often dismiss it as an unadvised or impossible belief, we must recognize that those who pursue this dream are noble (and 'nabled'). And those who champion it are brave, if not heroic.As is the way with all ephemeral communities, the collective memory of the Wilf Campus stude…
Biographical Material

Correspondence

Exchange with the Bostoner Rebbe about R. Lamm's Retirement from Presidency (2002)

My dear Rabbi Lamm: Your friends cannot yet reconcile the fact that you are retiring as President of Yeshiva University. After all, there are some people who HaShem placed in working condition not to be retired, כי לא ינוח שבט הרשע especially when one performs a distinguished job such as you did. To leave and have all segments of the usually fragmented Jewish community praise your long tenure at YU is a truly remarkable feat. I feel that you can still contribute to the Jewish community in a most meaningful way. Now that my dear friend and distinguished colleague Rabbi Israel Miller has, unfortunately, retired from the post as President of the Claims Conference – may G-d grant him a refuah shlemah. This position is most important in its role of assisting the remnants of K’lal Yisroel. At the same time, this most vital position would not be one that would be over-taxing to you, that you may still have the time to do the things you wish to do at this juncture of your life. There is just no place for you to retire, for Chazal say: מנין דחיי חובה דחי מינה במזוני the one who gives life provides sustenance. Now this does not always apply just to the sustenance of the individual. At times it means the provision of sustenance that one receives to help others. It is this aspect that should guide you at these times of your critical decision-making period. May ה׳ יתן לך בריאות של שלום grant you a long, healthy life to share the sustenance you were granted with K’lal Yisroel. Best wishes and kindest personal regards, [Signature]
Biographical Material

Correspondence

Exchange with Yehuda Avner about R. Lamm's Retirement (2013)

My Dear Norman, I have shared your letter with all my children and grandchildren so that they should know the authentic meaning of Torah Umada in its most noble sense. What you write is expressive of your profound scholarship as a life-long talmid muvhak of the Rav – no frills, no superfluities, no flourishes – simply an expression of your deep religious sincerity, unyielding intellectual honesty, unshakeable moral certitude, and unflinching integrity. Jingoistic journalists have no patience for such matters. They pounce on this and that, using words that quickly fade into oblivion. Yours have an eternal ring to them. Wittingly or not you have written a testimony about a lifelong journey that is so spiritually challenging and so intellectually stimulating that it now belongs to the ages. You have fulfilled your promise to the Rav, and in so doing have ennobled the lives of untold thousands, mine among them. Your everlasting friend, Yehuda (Gubby).
Biographical Material