Home Interfaith / Library / Speeches / Interfaith / Exchange with Dr. Eliezer Goldman about…

Correspondence

June 1972

Exchange with Dr. Eliezer Goldman about the Validity of a Woman's Conversion (1972)

Religion & State

1. Dr. Eliezer Goldman to R. Lamm

1. Dr. Eliezer Goldman to R. Lamm (June 3, 1972)

1. Dr. Eliezer Goldman to R. Lamm (June 3, 1972)

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.

Next Letter

RELATED CONTENT

Correspondence

Exchange with Judge Alvin Hellerstein about Counting Women in a Minyan (1973)

Dear Rabbi Lamm, It is after Yom Kippur, and I thought that I should set down for you some of my misgivings about your recent sermon on Jewish women. These came into better focus following some reading today, in the El Am discussion of Berakhoth 20b. If I remember correctly, your position was: (a) Jewish women are not required to perform mitzvot conditioned by time, (b) a minyan cannot depend on an onan for he is not required to say the Shema (or the prayers requiring the presence of a minyan), (c) a minyan cannot depend on the presence of one not commanded to say the Shema, (d) hence women cannot be counted towards a minyan.
Women & Judaism

Correspondence

Exchange with Menachem White about Converting the Boyfriend of a Jewish Student (1970)

Dear Rabbi Lamm, It has been some time since I have seen you, and I trust all is well. After receiving Semikha from Yeshiva, I spent two years at the Near Eastern Dept. of Brandeis. I currently am teaching in the Hebrew Dept, (or rather, am the Hebrew Dept.) in the State University at Oneonta, a pleasant community midway between Binghampton and Albany (i.e., in the middle of nowhere).I would be grateful for your comments on the following matter. A boy has recently come to me for conversion, in order to marry his Jewish girl-friend. As I have never handled a conversion before, I thought it might be presumptious of me to get involved before discussing it with someone experienced.Before asking my questions, let me describe the specific case, [redacted] comes from liberal Protestant parents, who do not object to his converting. He is a bright, pleasant fellow, considering himself agnostic. The girl wants her children to be raised Jewish (she told me that even if [redacted] is not accepted for conversion, she will make him sign a paper that she can raise the children Jewish). Her mother is strongly opposed to the "shidduch;" but her father likes the boy's fine character and intelligence.I am familiar with the relevant sources in the Shulhan Aruch and meforshim and 'Igrot Moshe. However, since my knowledge and opinions on this matter are theoretical, I feel I should ask your opinion on such matters as 1) whether or not to accept the boy; 2) if accepted, what course of study – if any – before final conversion –; 3) making arrangements for the conversion, as הטפת דם ברית, etc.I thank you in advance for considering this matter. Regards to your family and to your nephew Shalom Kellerman.בכבוד רב,מנחם וויטMenahem WhiteDept. of HebrewPS BuildingState University of New YorkOneonta 13820607-431-3189-3409

Correspondence

Exchange with R. Jakobovits about Political Involvement in "Who Is a Jew" Issue (1974)

Dear Norman, Thank you so much for your letter and enclosures which I read with special interest. The sermons, though in the nature of things somewhat depressing, show your usual mastery of thought, analysis, expression and homiletics. They mirror an assessment of the American reaction to the War rather different from what I have observed in the Anglo-Jewish community, where indifference, let alone hostility, were very little in evidence. I felt the contrast myself when I briefly visited America for the marriage of our son in Detroit at the time of the cease-fire. I am now looking forward with particularly eager anticipation to your contribution at the Hebrew University Conference. This must have been quite a fascinating and stimulating experience. On the Mafdal front, our discussion has been overtaken by events culminating in the, to my mind, rather humiliating capitulation of its ill-advised stand. The whole episode reeks with inconsistency, short-sightedness and sheer folly. I am enclosing a statement I circulated among my colleagues which will indicate my position, lonely and subject to no end of abusive attacks as it was. From all the evidence I have, your information on the Rav’s attitude is not altogether accurate. My information from Fabian and other sources is that, presumably capitulating to the agitation fanned by Lubavitch, he took the initiative in pressing Goren to forbid the Mafdal to join the coalition – a decision which may, I fear, be rued for years to come. I also gather, contrary to what you write, that Yosef, far from threatening to fall out with Goren over his refusal to countenance the Mafdal’s joining the Government, in fact adopted the far more reasonable attitude of leaving the political decision to the party itself. As I intimate in my statement, I believe the solution now lies in taking the whole issue out of the political arena and placing it into the hands of the Rabbinate where it properly belongs. In alluding to the proposal you men…
Religion & State Who Is a Jew?