Exchange with Bezalel Safran about His Notes on R. Soloveitchik's Horayot Lectures (1969)

1. Bezalel Safran to R. Lamm (June 1, 1969)

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Memo on Meeting with Rav Soloveitchik (1984)

I talked to the Rav today and told him about my very serious concerns about the ideological and cultural-educational dilemma in which we find ourselves, pressured by the obscurantism of the Right and the ignorance of the Left. He too is depressed by all this. He feels that those people who are letting their children grow up under this obscurantism are producing cripples and they will live to regret it. He is deeply disturbed by the fact that some of our students, in an attempt to be super-pious, actually develop a foreign accent in their English, are culturally illiterate, and have no knowledgeof Western culture. He believes it is wierd, etc.I told him that merely being critical of a situation for which we are responsible is inadequate. I asked him to think creatively and programmatically about what strategy we have to adopt in order to change the situation. He promised to think about it and I told him I would get back to him at the end of June or sometimein July.In addition, I asked him to speak out on these issues both to the RY's and also in his class as frequently as possible. He agreed.

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Exchange with R. Sherer about R. Waldenberg's Articles (1961)

Dear Moshe: Please do not think ill of me for not having answered your long letter and your two articles which contained enclosures of reprints. My silence was not due to neglect of the matter, certainly not to disregard of yourself. It is, rather, because the subject matter we are discussing is so involved, so complex, and so consequential, that I hesitate to commit my inconclusive thoughts to writing. However, as soon as I feel that I can see my way through the problem, then I shall write to you in greater detail. For the present, I want to thank you for the reprints – I will return the three article series in a very short while – and to tell you that I respect your opinion very much, although that does not necessarily mean that I agree with all that you have to say. Once again, many many thanks for all the trouble you have taken to go into this matter in detail with me. Sincerely yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm

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Letter to R. Soloveitchik about an Item of Interest (1962)

Dear Rabbi Soloveitchik: I thought you might be interested in the passage on the enclosed page, which completely vindicates your position. Most Respectfully Yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm.

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