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Correspondence

Nov. 16, 1964

Letter of Condolences upon the Loss of a Child (1964)

Death & Mourning
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Letter of Condolences to J. Kletsky (1962)

Dear Jay: I do not know how to begin this letter. I just read of the terrible news in the Springfield Jewish News and called Lou Izenstein immediately. Mindy and I are still reeling from the impact of the shock. How contradictory and antithetical the very thought of death is to all Lillian was. Lively, vibrant, dynamic, blessed with a gracious vigor, hers was the kind of personality one quite naturally assumes is immortal. One never associates such people with anything but the tempo, rhythm, and excitement of life itself.Although we were not in contact with you since you left for Florida and we for New York, we thought of the two of you often. And whenever we did, the memory of Lil’s liveliness and loveliness suffused us with the warmth of old friendship reawakened, if only for a few precious moments. Tears, certainly, but words are a poor and utterly inadequate substitute for her presence. Yet I know that she would have, in her characteristic fashion, dismissed all excessive eulogizing and extravagant emotions as unnecessary and undesirable.You’ve lost a lot, Jay, but few people have drunk as deeply from the cup of happiness as have you and Lil. Legions of men would gladly trade in all of their future for but a slice of your past. G-d blessed you with a wonderful and no one can now deprive you of your precious and blessed memories. May they be, for you and your children, a source of everlasting strength and comfort.Sincerely,RABBI NORMAN LAMM
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Letter of Condolences to Natalie Schacter (1964)

Dear Natalie: I had fully intended coming to visit you on Sunday, but circumstances developed so that I was unable to pay you a condolence call. Words, of course, fail me completely in trying to convey to you the very real sentiments of grief that welled up within Mindy and myself when we heard the terrible news, and have still not abated one bit. Anything I can say, therefore, must fall far short of what I really believe and feel. I trust that you will accept our silence — as your father so eloquently put it at the funeral services — as representing our sentiments far more than words.With all his energy and love and boundless enthusiasm, he lived twice as intensively as most others during the few years that the Almighty granted him. I hope that his memory will be a source of strength and inspiration and consolation for many years to come.While I am sure that many others have told you this, I hope you will accept it as being meant in utmost sincerity: if there is anything in any way that we can do for you, please do not hesitate to call upon us.Sincerely,RABBI NORMAN LAMMNL
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Letter of Condolence to R. Goldfarb Upon Passing of His Father (1967)

Dear Rabbi Goldfarb: Many thanks to you for your most gracious note. I admired and cherished your late father, of blessed memory, and am pleased that you and your sister and all the family were able to detect this genuine feeling in my remarks. I hope and pray that I shall be able to be of service to the family on many happy occasions in the future. Please convey my warmest good wishes to all members of the family, and my thanks both for the sentiments and enclosure. Cordially yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm
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