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Correspondence

April 1971

Exchange with Dr. Rosner about AOJS Major Issues Kits (1971)

Torah & Science

1. Dr. Rosner to R. Lamm

1. Dr. Rosner to R. Lamm (Apr. 12, 1971)

1. Dr. Rosner to R. Lamm (April 12, 1971)

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Exchange with Dr. Shneour about His Scholarship on Extraterrestrial Life (1966)

Dear Dr. Schneour: Mr. Raymond A. Haeckel of the Public Relations Department of the University of Utah was kind enough to send me a copy of a news release and article in which you were interviewed concerning the question of life on other planets. Mr. Haeckel sent me this in response to an article which recently appeared in the New York Times, reporting on an article I had published in Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought.As soon as reprints of my article become available, I will send one on to you. I hope you will do me the favor of reading it and letting me know your reactions.Permit me now to add a personal note. I may be mistaken, but I think that we once met many years ago. I had the pleasure of meeting, several years before his death, the distinguished Hebrew and Yiddish poet, Zalman Schneour, together with his wife, his son, and his daughter. In fact, he once did me the honor of reading and criticizing some Hebrew poetry which I wrote.I dimly recall hearing that this son was a biologist in Utah. That is why I believe that you are probably the man I met at that time. Perhaps it will help you to recall our association if I mention the name of my beloved aunt, Mrs. Sarah Wank. She and my late uncle Hyman were very friendly with the Schneour family.Finally, I would be very pleased to receive copies of any publications you may have on this theme that is of mutual interest to us.Sincerely yours,RABBI NORMAN LAMM
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Correspondence

Exchange with Michael Kaufman about "Religious Implications of Extraterrestrial Life" (1966)

Dear Rabbi Lamm, Just a fan letter to let you Know how much I appreciated your excellent, thought-provoking study, "The Religious Implications of Extraterrestrial Life" in the current issue of Tradition. The discussion was significant in exploring a Jewish approach to the eventual discovery of life on other worlds, and as such I nave no doubt that your study will be the source to which Jewish (and possibly Catholic) theologians will turn in 10, 50 or 100 years when, as is probable, contact will be made with extraterrestrial life.However, of at least equal or greater significance in my mind, was your treatment, in the course of your discussion, of a number of major concepts of Jewish theology from the Orthodox point of view which provided fresh, new insights into biblical exegesis and the story of the Creation, and the nature of G-d, and His relation to man. You have thus made available to the Orthodox Jewish intellectual, scientist and collegian a major contribution to their understanding of Judaism, and all three will find in your discussion a new source of strength for their faith as they delve into questions relating to G-d, man and the universe.May G-d grant you the strength and the means to continue in the footsteps of the Rambam and S.R. Hirsch.Sincerely,Michael KaufmanRabbi Norman Lamm 27 West 06th Street New York City
Torah & Science

Correspondence

Exchange with Sonia Davis about Science and Judaism (1966)

Dear Dr. Lamm: Please pardon the presumption of an eighty-four year old woman of addressing you to add a word of my own to your wonderful thesis in the B’nai B’rith Messenger of Los Angeles, Calif. Many years ago, the late Josef Stalin (of unblessed memory) boasted that his chemists could produce life in a test tube. Could they also produce the sun, moon and stars, among which, as you know, is Arcturus? Could any chemist produce the four seasons? Could any of the scientists produce the heavens, the seven seas, and the earth? The winds, as they “bloweth” – whence they come from and whither they go? The late Professor Charles Steinmetz created artificial thunder and lightning, which has been copied in, and by theatricals; but aside of the so-called “rain-makers” what humans, even the greatest scientists, can produce the natural elements? I thoroughly believe in, and admire some of the wonderful things that science has done for the benefit of humanity, but some of them we could well do without, such as murderous weapons and other death-dealing productions, such as are now being used in the present wars. No amount of wrongs can make a right. Perhaps the distant future will find a better way. We no longer live in a cave; we are living on a planet and neither time nor tide nor divide distances. Very sincerely yours, Sonia H.D
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