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Speech

March 14, 1989

Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein Memorial (1989)

Eulogies & Memorials

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Outline

Memorial Address for Rabbi Zeev Shussheim (1989)

גמ׳ ב"מ פ״ה ע״א: א״ר פרנך א״ר יוחנן כל שהוא ת״ח ובנו ת״ח ובן בנו ת״ח שוב אין תורה פוסקת מזרעו לעולם. מ״ר ירמי מכאן ואילך תורה מחזרת על אכסניא שלה. והמהרש״א שם הק׳ הלא שנינו במס׳ אבות והתקן על רמז ללמוד תורה שאתה ירשה לך, א״כ מזה שתלוי בלימוד ולא ביחוסי ותיר? שבן ת״ח אם לומד תורה יזכה שמא הוא יהי אכסניא לתורה כמו שהיו אבותיו. ולע״ד שזה תופס גם לענין מוסד ישיבה תורה ממזרת על אכסניא שלה: ״פירושו, שאם הישיבה אמנם מקום תורה ואכסניא לתורה, בא התורה תחזור לה,
Eulogies & Memorials

Article

Words of Tribute to Rabbi Leo Jung (1992)

I knew Rabbi Jung in several capacities: as his associate in the rabbinate of The Jewish Center for 18 years; as a congregant here for the past 11 years; as President of Yeshiva University where he served as both professor emeritus of Jewish ethics and as honorary trustee on our Board. But I speak this evening not in any official capacity, but primarily as an American Jew in the latter half of the twentieth century who is concerned with the future of Torah and the State of Israel and the Jewish people, and who had the opportunity to see him labor on their behalf and leave them far better, healthier, and more secure than he found them because of his passage through life. Rabbi Jung always struck me as a remarkably serene man. His serenity was more than the typical unflappability of the Englishman; Rabbi Jung was an Englishman, an American, a German, an Hungarian — a truly international man. It issued from far deeper resources than a mere cultural bias. Its origin was in the sense of wholeness, of temimut, that comes from profound faith and inner conviction. Emunah, Jewish religious experience, comes in two antithetical forms, both equally authentic. One is that of a stormy scene of massive spiritual conflicts, of tormented wrangling with doubt and struggling with loneliness, leaving one filled with pain and anguish and angst. The other form of religious experience involves a serene center of spiritual tranquility — irenic, pacific, and happy — reinforced by the faith and trust in the Almighty. Despite the fact that Rabbi Jung had the capacity to struggle for his principles — and he proved successful when he had to engage in such contention—his essential personality was of the second type, that which is described in the divine command to Abraham, התהלך לפני והיה חברם, “walk before Me and you will be whole.” He was whole, a complete personality, unperturbed by dissonance and oppositions. His gift for reconciling opposites, or at least for abiding their coexistence wit…
Eulogies & Memorials

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Hesped for Rabbi Melech Schachter (2007)

Rabbi Lamm, alongside Rabbi Hershel Schachter and Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, delivers a eulogy for Rabbi Melech Schachter.
Eulogies & Memorials