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Correspondence

June 10, 1964

Letter from R. Applbaum about West German Scientists Working on Anti-Israel Weapons (1964)

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Letter to Ambassador Knopstein about West German Scientists Working on Anti-Israel Weapons (1964)

Dear Mr. Ambassador: I write to you not only on my own behalf, but also on behalf of our entire membership. Rarely has an event of public importance caused as much distress and outrage amongst our people as the failure of the West German government to do something immediate and decisive about West German scientists who are now helping Nasser and Egypt to "finish the job" that a previous German government had begun. It is completely beyond our comprehension that a generation of government leaders who had personally witnessed the unprecedented horrors visited upon the world by the Nazis should now stand impotent, eager helplessness in the face of a few legalisms, while allowing their own countrymen to continue to participate in the diabolical schemes to destroy the State of Israel, which is composed so largely of refugees from Greater Nazism.There was a time when a number of our people began to accept the fact that the new German government was, on the whole, a group of sincerely dedicated anti-Nazis who genuinely rued what had been done. The latest series of events, however, have pretty well disillusioned us and made us feel that to an unfortunately large extent the democratic character of the West German government is more of a public relations "image" than an authentic fact.None of the explanations that have been forthcoming for or on behalf of the West German government are in any way convincing. I beg to remind you that we have six million reasons to be suspicious of any contrived “explanations” that fall short of the drastic measures that are deemed incumbent upon your government.Sincerely,RABBI NORMAN LAMMNL\:ffCC: Mr. M. Stern — Rabbi S. Applbaum — RC
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Letter to Ambassador Knappstein Criticizing West Germany's Attitude to Israel (1965)

To: Rabbi Jung. From: Sec. of Rabbi Lamm. This is the text of the telegram sent to German Ambassador Karl Hendrick Knappstein, German Consulate, 460 Park Ave., N.Y.C. (For your files). Most emphatically protest West Germany's surrender to Nasser blackmail. Your government is undoing all its previous efforts to restore your country to mankind's respect. Dr. Leo Jung, Norman Lamm, Rabbis of N.Y.C.
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Letter to R. Siegman about His Article Regarding Criticism of Israel (1970)

Dear Henry: I am not normally the type that writes fan letters, but I received today from the R.C.A. a copy of your letter of March 26th to The Village Voice. It was more than a letter; it was a classical essay. I cherished reading every single word. You have my unbounded admiration for having said what you did so forthrightly and so well. Cordially yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm. Voice, Published weekly (Thursday) by The Village Voice, Inc.Dan Wolf, president, Edwin Fancher, secretary-treasurerSHERIDAN SQUARE, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10014**March 26, 1970****A Question of Truth**Dear Sir:Simple ignorance might explain why a Michael Zwerin (“Outside: London," March 5 and 12) would not know how Israel voted in the United Nations on the subject of South Africa. To assert, however, as he does, that “Abba Eban always voted against the U.N. resolutions condemning South Africa" when the very reverse is in fact the case (Israel has repeatedly voted in the U.N. to condemn South Africa and in favor of economic sanctions, even though national self-interest would have dictated at least an abstention), is to be guilty not of ignorance, but of a deliberate lie, and reveals Zwerin, or his Israeli anti-Israel friends, or both, as malicious persons intent on defaming Israel and Jews.This maliciousness is a disease that is regrettably as common as it is unsightly—a Jewish self-hatred born of an embarrassment and an inability to come to terms with the “tribalism” of Jewish faith and Israeli nationalism.That this phenomenon is indeed a disease and not a noble universalist impulse is evident from the fact that generally the very same people who find Israeli nationalism “racist,” “tribal,” and “parochial" are entirely uncritical in their support of the nationalisms of Third World Asian and African countries, which are invariably described as “progressive,” “revolutionary,” and strangely compatible with their universalism.One is stunned by the depth and ugliness of the pathology. Zwerin’s London h…
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