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Correspondence

January-February 1972

Exchange about Negative El Al Experience (1972)

Zionism

1. R. Lamm to Sharon Travel Agency

1. R. Lamm to Sharon Travel Agency (Jan. 21, 1972)

1. R. Lamm to Sharon Travel Agency (Jan. 21, 1972)

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Correspondence

Exchange about the Internal Strife at Shaarei Zedek Hospital (1969)

Dear [redacted]: I feel rather guilty for writing this letter – that is, not for writing it but for writing it so late – and I hope you will be forgiving. It occurred to me that you might not be completely aware of the strong moral support you have in the agony to which you are being subjected by the wild men surrounding you. Sometimes it is necessary to express the obvious, if only because someone in the thick of battle may not realize that he has friends – many of them and loyal ones.Let me tell you, therefore, not only on my own behalf, but also on behalf of many, many others, that we are genuinely sorry for the anguish that has been caused to you and your family, and that, even more, we admire you enormously for your spirit, your perseverance, and your plain American guts.I wish I knew how I could be of help to you. I had been toying with the idea of drawing up some kind of petition, having it signed by like-minded people, and publicizing it. But I don’t know how much good it would do you in the face of charges that you are a stooge of sinister circles in the United States who are trying to get Yeshiva University into Jerusalem through the back door. Whatever I can do for you, I certainly am anxious to, and await word from you. But whether or not there is any active assistance you desire, I do want you to know that we are with you – בלב ונפש.Mindy joins me in warmest regards to you and your wife.Cordially yours,Rabbi Norman LammNL/egbc: Max SternRabbi Irving Greenberg
Zionism

Correspondence

Exchange with R. Lorincz about His Speech on the Israeli "Black Panther" Movement (1971)

Dear friend, I am enclosing a copy of a speech I delivered in the Knesset on May 24th on the subject of "Black Panthers". This topic has aroused intense interest in Israel and has lately been in the forefront of our minds. You will observe that in my remarks I mentioned our Sde Chemed Children's Village – a school in which you are an active partner – as a school which provides at least one answer to the problem which has agitated the country. The 300 children of Sde Chemed prove that youths who could become Black Panthers can be wonderful children from every standpoint. To get the positive results we all seek two conditions are essential: there must be suitable place for the children to receive a good education and what is offered the children must be given to them with love, as it is in Sde Chemed. I hope you find my remarks of interest. I shall, of course, be happy to receive your reaction and any suggestion you may want to offer on this vital subject. With greetings from Zion, I am, sincerely, Rabbi Shlomo Lorincz
Zionism

Correspondence

Exchange with Ruth Weil about "The Ideology of the Neturei Karta" (1972)

Dear Rabbi Lamm, I just got the latest issue of Tradition and read your article on the Ideology of the Neturei Karta. There are a few points I would like to raise and also ask you a few questions. I hope you do not mind! To begin with a general impression. To me your presentation of the ideology seems to be clothed in a sort of “sympathetic regret.” You agree, that fundamentally the basis of Neturei Karta stands on very shaky grounds. But one has a feeling “It could have been so nice, if it only could have been true.” Waiting in the Galuth anywhere as long as life was normal or bearable, then seek refuge in a more favourable place, until one day miraculously the Mashiach would appear and bring us all back to our land. We all have been brought up somehow on this idea, and may feel at times sort of nostalgic to realize our error. I also do think we never visualized this ingathering of our people in a concrete way, no one pondered much how this coming back would technically materialize, as it was to be miraculous. (Incidentally Chaim Hazaz once said something like: Jews always pray for the Mashiach to come, but deep in their hearts they pray, that the gentile should no be too bad towards them.) Convinced of our belief of the return to Eretz Israel, we rejected at a great majority Zionism at its very beginning, no one could conceive redemption initiated by the most secular and atheistic group of Jews. I am not challenging here the Neturei Karta, but would like to ask you, how can the Satmarer Rav pretend that the holocaust was a result and punishment of the Zionists challenging Hitler and declaring war on Germany? Hitler published his attitude towards the Jewish people and the Jews well before he came to power. If an affirmation is based on the very beginning on wrong facts, then of course all that happened later can be derived accordingly. Why do you find at times the logic of the Satmarer Rav piquant? (p. 51) The idea if God would have wanted our return to the old C…
Zionism