Home Home / Exchange with the Bostoner Rebbe about …

Correspondence

March 2002

Exchange with the Bostoner Rebbe about R. Lamm's Retirement from Presidency (2002)

Biographical Material

1. R. Horovitz to R. Lamm

1. R. Horovitz to R. Lamm (March 11, 2002)

1. R. Horovitz to R. Lamm (March 11, 2002)

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

Interview

Celebrating a Life at Yeshiva: An Interview with R. Lamm (2003)

As this marks Rabbi Dr. Lamm’s final year as president of Yeshiva University, the Observer editors spoke to Rabbi Lamm about his accomplishments as president of the University, how the University has changed, where he sees the University headed, and what message he would like to leave the students. Asked what he views as his greatest accomplishment as president of YU for the past 27 years, Dr. Lamm replied: “From one point of view, considering the difficult earlier years, the greatest accomplishment was survival – for me and for the University. The colleges and RIETS are on a much more firm financial basis. There is no comparison to where we were when I came in and we were talking about Chapter Eleven, going bankrupt. Baruch Hashem, we were saved from that disaster. There are things that I did that, while I am pleased that I did them, I wish I could have done more. I think the improvement of the undergraduate colleges is important. The Honors programs have added to the intellectual level of conversation in the classroom. They have been able to attract more gifted students. We have more students coming in now than ever before. I am pleased with the kollelim we have established at RIETS. I am pleased with Stern College, especially with the strengthening of the school as the years go by – and the same is true of Yeshiva College and Sy Syms.” He added: “There is a great deal to be done in getting the Stern students more aware of the fact that there is a University as well as getting the University to know that there is a Stern College.” Asked to describe the greater commitment to Torah U’madda he has witnessed, Dr. Lamm explained that it has become more explicit, more articulated. “Before I came in, people didn’t talk about it. They questioned it, but didn’t look for or wait for any answers. They called it a ‘synthesis’ in those days. They didn’t talk about it. No one really knew what it meant, except in a very general way. Today we have the Torah U’madda Project, Tor…
Biographical Material

Correspondence

Exchange with R. Ort about Retirement from YU Presidency (2001)

Dear R. Lamm, I recently read in a newspaper that you had announced your intention to retire from your position this coming summer. I was very sombered by the news. It is fourteen years since I have left the Yeshiva and we have had any direct contact, so obviously I am not capable of espousing any opinion on the matter. It is, however, an opportunity to express some personal emotions.
Biographical Material

Correspondence

Exchange with Yehuda Avner about R. Lamm's Retirement (2013)

My Dear Norman, I have shared your letter with all my children and grandchildren so that they should know the authentic meaning of Torah Umada in its most noble sense. What you write is expressive of your profound scholarship as a life-long talmid muvhak of the Rav – no frills, no superfluities, no flourishes – simply an expression of your deep religious sincerity, unyielding intellectual honesty, unshakeable moral certitude, and unflinching integrity. Jingoistic journalists have no patience for such matters. They pounce on this and that, using words that quickly fade into oblivion. Yours have an eternal ring to them. Wittingly or not you have written a testimony about a lifelong journey that is so spiritually challenging and so intellectually stimulating that it now belongs to the ages. You have fulfilled your promise to the Rav, and in so doing have ennobled the lives of untold thousands, mine among them. Your everlasting friend, Yehuda (Gubby).
Biographical Material