Exchange with R. Yitz Greenberg about R. Lamm's Appointment to YU Presidency (1976)

1. R. Yitz Greenberg to R. Lamm (Aug. 3, 1976)

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Aug. 3, 1976

Dear Norman,

I heard this morning of your election as President of Yeshiva University. I want to take this opportunity to wish you Mazel Tov and much achievement and success.

There are only a few positions in Jewish life which carry with them the opportunity to make a historic contribution. This is one of them. I know that you have a real sense of the scope of Yeshiva and the time we are living in and I pray, with God’s help, you will make a real contribution.

It is no secret that I feel Orthodoxy’s trend in recent years has tended to restrict its influence and contribution to Klal Yisrael. However, this letter is not meant to push my agenda. Rather it is to offer you best wishes and whatever help I can give and to express the hope that with your leadership, Yeshiva and Orthodoxy will set a model and be a bulwark of strength to all Jews.

May the merit of your kindness and help to Willy Frank ז”ל and his family be one of the many good deeds which stand by you and bring blessing and fruitfulness to your work.

Sincerely,

Irving Greenberg

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

Dear Norman, Congratulations on your appointment. This was, of course, bound to come: strange that this time the best man available was elected to our important position. I don’t wish you good-bye, not only because I wish you well personally but also, and mainly, because I wish Yeshiva University – and perhaps I ought to say, Judaism at large – well. I believe it is not belittling the achievements of Dr. Belkin if I say that we have reached a stage at which Y.U. needs a new direction, a comprehensively integrated educational philosophy, and an intellectual, devoted confrontation with the problems of the day. You, belonging to another generation, fully involved in the problematics of the contemporary situation, are able to do the job. Speed and mazal tov. I pray that you have the providence that you need for every success. Sincerely, Eliezer Berkovits.

Biographical Material

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

Congratulations on your election to the presidency of the greetest Torah institution in Diaspora, the Yeshiva University. I pray for you success in leading this great center of Halacha, Judaism, and science to become the spiritual source of Jewish life to tens of thousands of our young people whose life will be devoted to Torah concepts, thus assuring survival of future generation. I particularly would ask you to institute a policy that every student must spend one year in Israel in order to absorb the atmosphere of our holy land before their graduation.

Biographical Material

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

Dear Rabbi Lamm, I know you must be flooded with congratulatory notes and calls – but please permit me to add mine. I have been an admirer of yours for many years, appreciating your sound scholarship, your clarity of thought and your ability to articulate your ideas in a most interesting way without resorting to rhetorical and literary gimmickry. I have found myself in agreement with many of your stands, as you spoke convincingly and with dignity for the Orthodox position. While I have no personal ties with Yeshiva, I recognize its paramount role in Jewish life and I am overjoyed that those entrusted [with] so momentous a decision...

Biographical Material