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Correspondence

July 2013

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

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1. Ambassador Yehuda Avner to R. Lamm

1. Ambassador Yehuda Avner to R. Lamm (July 13, 2013)

1. Ambassador Yehuda Avner to R. Lamm (July 13, 2013)

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Correspondence

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

My dear Rabbi Lamm: Your friends cannot yet reconcile the fact that you are retiring as President of Yeshiva University. After all, there are some people who HaShem placed in working condition not to be retired, כי לא ינוח שבט הרשע especially when one performs a distinguished job such as you did. To leave and have all segments of the usually fragmented Jewish community praise your long tenure at YU is a truly remarkable feat. I feel that you can still contribute to the Jewish community in a most meaningful way. Now that my dear friend and distinguished colleague Rabbi Israel Miller has, unfortunately, retired from the post as President of the Claims Conference – may G-d grant him a refuah shlemah. This position is most important in its role of assisting the remnants of K’lal Yisroel. At the same time, this most vital position would not be one that would be over-taxing to you, that you may still have the time to do the things you wish to do at this juncture of your life. There is just no place for you to retire, for Chazal say: מנין דחיי חובה דחי מינה במזוני the one who gives life provides sustenance. Now this does not always apply just to the sustenance of the individual. At times it means the provision of sustenance that one receives to help others. It is this aspect that should guide you at these times of your critical decision-making period. May ה׳ יתן לך בריאות של שלום grant you a long, healthy life to share the sustenance you were granted with K’lal Yisroel. Best wishes and kindest personal regards, [Signature]
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Letter from Ambassador 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 life-long 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)
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