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Correspondence

September 1966

Exchange with Dr. Lachman about Article on the State of Jewish Belief (1966)

Faith

1. Dr. Lachman to R. Lamm

1. Dr. Lachman to R. Lamm (Sep. 22, 1966)

1. Dr. Lachman to R. Lamm (Sept. 22, 1966)

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Article

Symposium on the State of Jewish Belief (1966)

In revelation, the Divine meets the human: It does not remain in inaccessible transcendence. While meeting the finite human, It yet remains in divine infinity: the finite is not idolatrously deitied. And It enters into the human situation: It does not force the human into a mystic surrender of its finitude. The Divine commands, and commands humans in their humanity. . . But it cannot do so except by singling out particular humans in their particularity. A philosopher may rise above his particular situation to the perception of a timeless truth. Every prophet must remain tn his situ- ation, in which the divine word singles him out. And the same is true of the whole people Israel. A Jew may wish to abandon his belief in the chosen people (1 would prefer: his covenant with God), and seek to transform, in the style of philosophy, his Judaism into a set of timeless universal truths to which he has risen. To do so. however, is to fragment the one reality of lhe covenant into two realities only accidentally connect- ed- a Judaism reduced to purely universal principles, and a Jewish people reduced to a merely accidental particularilv. To some this fragmentation is a modern necessity. To the believer in a singling-out revelation it is a religious impossibility. To the believer, a Jewish self-understanding of Jewishness as a merely accidental manifestation of humanity-in-gcncral, only accidentally having a special obligation to the ”universal principles of Judaism, is not a rise to a higher level of humanity. It is a betrayal of the Jew ish position. Thai the chosen-people concept has nothing in common with racism is shown by the traditional doctrine concerning converts, who become sons of Abraham. That it is diametrically opposed to racism- as well as to the religious tribalism which may be viewed as its ancient countcrpart-follows from the bcing-singled-out which is the chosenness. Tribal deities, as finite as the tribes themselves, are bound to their respective tribes. On…
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Exchange with Dr. Golding about His Article "The Rational Defensibility of Being a Traditional Religious Jew" (1999)

Dear Rabbi Lamm, Shalom u-vracha. I hope you and your family are well. Perhaps you remember me from my work on your "Faith and Doubt." I thought you might find the enclosed article interesting in one way or another. It has just been published in the December issue of Religious Studies. Respectfully, Joshua Golding, Phiosophy Dept. Bellarmine College, Louisville KY 40205, e-maiil: joshg@bellarmine.edu
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Exchange with Prof. Kirschenbaum about "Faith and Doubt" and Developments at Tel Aviv University (1972)

Dear Norman: Many thanks for the copy of Faith and Doubt. Actually, I have already read all of the chapters in article form, but the collection is most impressive. I eagerly await your volume on R. Chaim Volozhin and the Baal Hatanya. I was especially sorry not to have been able to see you since it would have afforded us the opportunity of comparing beards (!). It gives me great pleasure to send you the Register of our newly created Department of Jewish Law. I am also enclosing a rather unusual study by one of the young stars of our Department. You should have received by now volumes I and II of our Jewish law journal, Dinei Israel. I am pleased to inform you that volume III is already at the printer’s. A perusal of its contents (on page 20 of the enclosed Register) will show that we have expanded (1) in quantity – it will be larger than volume II, (2) in the level and geography of our contributors – they are no longer limited to the members of our local staff, and (3) in subject matter – we have a larger representation than previously of constitutional law and legal philosophy. May I invite you to join us in volume IV? We would be honored to have you among our contributors, on any topic you deem appropriate, preferably in English (we should like to bolster our English section). I am now engaged in a three-pronged campaign: 1. Recruitment of students either for our Master’s Program or on a one-year-in-Israel basis. I have therefore taken the liberty of sending you a number of copies of our Register; if you meet up with a potential candidate please give him a copy. 2. Raising money for some of our needy students in the form of scholarships, fellowships and cash prizes for worthy seminar papers and Master’s theses. We have already 30 students in our Master’s Program, many of whom are young struggling lawyers or graduate assistants, married and supporting families. Any advice or help you could offer along these lines would be greatly appreciated. 3. I am continuing e…
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