Home Orthodoxy & Other Denominations / Library / Articles / Community / Orthodoxy & Other Denominations / Digest of Statement by Rabbi Norman Lam…

Assorted

October 2, 1969

Digest of Statement by Rabbi Norman Lamm (1969)

Soviet Jewry
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

Correspondence

Letter to Rabbinic Colleagues Soliciting Support for Exodus March (1970)

Dear Colleague: In the recent issue of Shedemot, published by the Kibbutz movement, there appears a paraphrase of the Yom Kippur confessional, dedicated to the Six Million. One of the verses reads: על חטא שחטאנו לפניך ולפניהם בחבוק ידים – for the sin of folded arms. This is something which, as Rabbis, we cannot let our people forget. As much as we American Jews did, we didn’t do nearly enough. While the Holocaust raged, too many of us sat by be’chibbuk yadayim, with folded arms. The reason for my writing to you now is to solicit your help in avoiding a repetition of this immoral inaction with regard to Soviet Jewry. Now that so many of them risk life and limb talking out, we must do no less.On behalf of the New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, I therefore respectfully ask your cooperation on the following two matters:(1) Alert your congregation (including your high school and college groups) to the EXODUS MARCH planned for April 26th at noon. Details on this demonstration will be forthcoming shortly. We want Greater New York Jewry to come out in the tens of thousands. We hope you will personally be pre-sent at the head of a group from your synagogue.(2) We urgently need funds to finance this EXODUS MARCH to ensure maximum publicity and thus the greatest possible effect. I therefore ask of you to obtain for this demonstration the sum of $100 either from your Pulpit Fund or congregation or interested individuals.I cannot emphasize strongly enough how important both these requests are.I plead with you to "lend a hand" -- not chibbuk yadgylm.Very cordially yours.RABBI NORMAN LAMMP.S. Your check should be made out to
Soviet Jewry

Correspondence

Letter to R. Chaim Segal about Mesivta of Crown Heights Hosting Student Speaker Who Visited Soviet Jews (1969)

Dear Rabbi Segal: A number of students just returned from the Soviet Union report remarkable experiences during last month's festivals. The sum total of their testimony suggests the dramatic conclusion that during the past year or so one of the most decisive expansions of Jewish feeling in history has taken place among young Soviet Jews. Many are making great sacrifices to affirm their Jewishness and to express their protest to the world.I would urge that this extraordinary phenomenon be communicated as soon as possible to your students, perhaps at a School Assembly. Among the eyewitnesses, there is one — a Brooklyn Yeshiva graduate — who is a particularly effective speaker. Listening to him will be a significant experience for staff and students alike.I am sure you will agree that such an encounter will inspire the students with renewed enthusiasm and commitment to the cause. Because the struggle is a long and complicated one, there is a special need to overcome an understandable weariness.For further details, please call Jacob Birnbaum, National Director of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, at 799-8900 any afternoon. Arrangements should be made at an early time as the young man in question is being rapidly booked.Sincerely yours,RABBI NORMAN LAM
Soviet Jewry

Correspondence

Letter to Rabbinic Colleagues Inviting Them to Meeting on Soviet Jewry (1970)

Dear Rabbi Lamm: You might be interested to know that we have gotten together as representatives of various campuses in the New York area to establish a committee which will work on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Our purpose is not to compete with existing organizations, but to supplement them. The enclosed minutes of our first meeting should explain what we stand for and what kinds of activities we plan to encourage. We plan to be in touch with you and to seek your advice. We hope that you will volunteer whatever help you can give us. It will be greatly appreciated.Sincerely yours,The University Community for Soviet Jewry---MINUTES OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY FOR SOVIET JEWRYOn June 1, 1970, representatives from a number of New York campuses got together to organize a committee whose purpose shall be to stimulate and coordinate activities on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Present at the meeting were representatives of the following campuses: JTS, CCNY, Queens College, YU, Teacher’s College. We hope that in the future every New York campus will be represented.This committee, tentatively named the University Community for Soviet Jewry, shall concern itself primarily with activities on the various campuses in the New York area.It is NOT our purpose to compete with existing organizations or to duplicate their work. Rather, we wish to supplement their endeavors and be active in areas they are not. We will coordinate our activities with theirs and promote their projects when possible. To this end, we have appointed a liaison — Benjy Lunzer (CCNY) — whose duty it shall be to maintain constant contact with these organizations.The following is a list of projects and proposals we will attempt to initiate and carry out:Composing of flyers and their distribution on campuses, directed at making the Jewish students aware of, and concerned with, their Jewishness in general and the problem of Soviet Jewry in particular. Each campus leader shall attempt to formulate the text of said flyer so as…
Soviet Jewry