Poem of Gratitude from Students of R. Lamm (1976)

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Poetry by R. Lamm After his Grandfather's Passing (1948)

אחבוק אשפתות, אני האמון עלי תולע, אבכה ואילל, אוי לי, לבי מתפקע! עת אפתח ספר התלמוד ואסתבך בקושיות, אקום בלהב, נפשי תתרעש ואותו אחפש... אוי לי ואללי לי, נפשי תתמוגג בקרבי כי אזכור אשר היה ואינו – מת עלי רבי! הוי, סבא, ענני! כי מצרי שאול סבבוני, אקונן מר, וחזוי ראשי יבהלונני, כי לולא סבי על מפתן בית המדרש לא קמתי. הוי, אבי, ענני! כי נדמית – נדמיתי, מתי. קלוני ראש קלוני זרון – ואתה, אין! ואני אחיה? היזרום נחל אם פסק עין? אם אכלה אש שורש, עץ שתול על שממה יצמח? בלה לב כלב. כלו כליות עם כלי רוח. נתקלקל גוע. אזניו סתמו, עצמו העינים.

Biographical Material

Letter of Gratitude from Rabbi Lamm's Family (1968)

Dear Norman, I hope that this does not embarrass you too greatly, but it is all very deeply felt and meant. Our beloved Zeida (ע״ה) would have much nachas from the wonderful name you have made for yourself; your wisdom and learning; and the high position in the Orthodox Jewish circles that you held. But, I feel, that he would have been most proud and pleased to know that you, like he, throughout his blessed life, will always make the time and find the compassion to help those less fortunate than yourself. You, of all of us, come closest to...

Biographical Material

Letter from R. Shafner Thanking R. Lamm for Inspiration Over the Years (1998)

Dear Rabbi Lamm: I am a musmach of RIETS and attended my Chag Hasmicha this year. I just wanted to let you know how your words have inspired me over the last ten years, which I spent in Yeshiva College, RIETS, Wurzweiler, and the Bernard Revel Graduate School. Your intellectual honesty and your messages of dignity and balance, vehement centrism, and love of all Jews have profoundly impressed themselves on my thinking and my rabbinate. My gratitude goes out to you and to the Yeshiva and University which you have steered these many years. You may remember that we spoke before I went off to be the Rabbi of India for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Bombay after receiving my Semicha, MA, and MSW three years ago. I am presently the Rabbi of the St. Louis Hillel Center at Washington University in St. Louis, a wonderful institution with a large and passionate staff and a very active Jewish student body. It is exactly what I have been looking for, and the fulfillment of guiding and teaching Jewish students, faculty, and staff knows no bounds. My best wishes for a freeing Pesach and a Chag Kasher V’Sameach.

Biographical Material