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Correspondence

March-April 1969

Exchange with R. Renov about His Appreciation for R. Lamm's Sermons (1969)

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1. R. Renov to R. Lamm

1. R. Renov to R. Lamm (March 27, 1969)

1. R. Renov to R. Lamm (March 27, 1969)

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Exchange with R. Eugene Borowitz about R. Lamm's Appointment to YU Presidency (1976)

Dear Norman – I want to send you a heartfelt mazel tov and on one level or two, I have no difficulty with it. That you deserve this job both in terms of your personal capacity and by contrast to others, is perfectly plain. That it will be good for American Orthodoxy and Yeshiva is more than probable. If anything, I had not expected that Yeshiva would have enough courage to appoint a council of independent men and allow it amount of independent voice and direction. But having done so, they merit the mazel tov. But when I think of the endless morass of finances and administration you are now thrown into – woes and aggravations most of us can image – then I’m not so sure what mazel it is that you’re getting. I can only hope that gradually you will find a way to keep it in its place and that because you are willing to live with it you will be permitted to exert a new measure of leadership to Orthodoxy and all of us. May the new post bring you much blessing, for it will surely be a blessing to the community – Gene
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Exchange with R. Jakobovits about Jewish Chronicle Reporting and R. Lamm's Views on Divine Revelation (1969)

Dear Immanuel: By now our criss-crossed letters on the Jewish Chronicle editorial have finally crissed and crossed, and I regard it as a good sign that we all did instinctively what we later advised each other to do! Since we last corresponded, the Jewish Chronicle published my letter, and I talked to Dr. Samuel Freeman of the Jewish Center Lecture Bureau, who informed me that he would look into the question and make the proper arrangements immediately. Yesterday I received a letter from Frankel of the Jewish Chronicle, and I enclose a xerox copy for your perusal. I have not yet decided what to answer him, but I certainly do not intend to let myself be boxed into a corner. Any suggestion how I can get out of this gracefully? Meanwhile, my very best wishes, and those of Mindella, to you and Amelie and all your children for a year of health and peace and ever-greater creativity. Please do give my special personal regards to Joel, of whom I am extremely fond. Cordially yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm
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Exchange with William Frankel about R. Lamm's Views on Divine Revelation (1969)

Dear Rabbi Lamm, As you may by now have seen, I published your letter in our last week's issue. You make the point that because you accept "Torah min ha-shamayim" and Dr. Jacobs does not, you are Orthodox and he is not. That would be perfectly fine and explicit if we knew what you meant by "Torah min ha-shamayim" since this was the basis of the "local polemics" to which your letter refers. Dr. Jacobs has made his position quite clear but neither your letter nor any other of your writings that I have seen are equally explicit on this subject. I am sure that you don’t wish intentionally to cloud the issues by deliberately vague formulations – indeed meaningless formulations. Would you therefore care to write an article for me, of not more than 1,200 words, on how you define "Torah min ha-shamayim" from the point of view of "modern Orthodoxy" as distinct from the non-modern acceptance of verbal inspiration? I am sure that such an article from you would have more than local interest and would be an important contribution to what I consider to be at the root of what you have described as "Modern Orthodoxy’s identity crisis". With kind regards, yours sincerely, William Frankel.
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