Exchange with Dr. Milton Birnbaum about "Seventy Faces" (2002)

1. Dr. Milton Birnbaum to R. Lamm (June 13, 2002)

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Exchange with Dr. Garrin about His Editorship of Jewish Book Annual, Chag Hasemicha, and "Seventy Faces" (2002)

Dear Rabbi Lamm שליט"א: First, may I extend best wishes for a gemar chatima tova – a gut, gebentsht un gezund yohr. As you know I have assumed the editorship of the Jewish Book Annual commencing with this year's edition. You kindly agreed to lend your name to the Editorial Board, and I wish to thank you once again. On the occasion of your retirement as President of Yeshiva University I thought it would be most appropriate to recognize the enormous contribution that you have made to YU, in particular, and klal yisroel, in general. To that end, Dr. Ari Goldman has written an article in the form of a review of the two volume Festschrift containing selections from your writings and addresses over the years. In addition, I would very much like to publish the chag ha smicha drasha that you delivered this past spring. I was so moved by the drasha that I feel it should be available to a larger audience. Besides, since the new format of the Book Annual treats contemporary issues and events in the Jewish community, your address to the musmachim definitely falls under the rubric of inyunei de yuma.I hope that you will agree to the publication and I look forward to sending you the 2002 Jewish Book Annual (henceforth totalled, “Jewish Life and Letters”) in the near future.Once again, a gemar chatima tova,

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Letter from Dr. Zvi Kaplan to Dr. Bernard Scharfstein about Using "Seventy Faces" as Educational Material (2001)

Dear Mr. Scharfstein, Thank you very much for writing. I am sorry I did not get back to you sooner. I wanted to wait until I had read the two volumes and decided on precisely how to incorporate them into my classes. In my survey of modern Jewish history, I have always included units on Musar, Hasidism (using Rabbi Lamm's source book), Hungarian Ultra-Orthodoxy, and Neo-Orthodoxy. This coming semester, I have decided to expand my discussion of Orthodox movements and to include a unit on Lithuanian Torah methodology (using Rabbi Lamm's book on Rav Hayyim of Volozhin) and a unit on contemporary Modem Orthodoxy. I want my students to read the sections on The Community, Modern Orthodoxy, Education, and Israel and Zionism. I believe that Rabbi Lamm’s new book is essential reading for any student or lay person who seeks to understand the ideological underpinnings of Modem Orthodoxy. I will urge all of my students to purchase their own copy of the book.Best wishes.Zvi Kaplan

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Letter from R. Sacks about "Seventy Faces" (2002)

Dear Bernard, Thank you so much for Rabbi Lamm's Seventy Faces. I will cherish it. If I can review it somewhere, I will. Please send Rabbi Lamm my warmest good wishes – and may you continue to enrich our bookshelves! בברכה והוקרה, Jonathan Sacks.

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