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December 17, 2007

Recollections and Reconsideration: Revisiting the Path of Rabbi Norman Lamm (2007)

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Tribute

End of an Era, Or a New Beginning? Yeshiva University President Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm Ponders the Future (2001)

Dr. Norman Lamm, elected president of Yeshiva Uni- versity in August 1976, has brought to the office a sensitivity to the University’s strengths and needs gained as a former student and faculty member and as a parent and distin- guished alumnus whose leadership and scholarship have earned him a position of prominence in the Jewish community. A rabbi, philosopher, teacher, and author, Dr. Lamm’s wide scope of scholarship and interests range from religious philosophy to the areas of human rights...The first American-born president of Yeshiva Universi- ty, Dr. Lamm succeeded Dr. Samuel Belkin (1943-1975) and Dr..Bcrnard Revel (1915-1940).Yeshiva University, in New York City, is America’s oldest and largest university under Jewish auspices, tracing its origins to 1886.A Tradition Nurtured In AmericaDr. Norman Lamm has brought to the presidency the vigor of Jewish tradition nurtured on American soil. Born in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, N.Y., December 19, 1927, the son of Samuel and Pearl Baumol Lamm, here- ceived his elementary and high school education at Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Vodaath.To further his Judaic scholarship and expand his own horizons through a liberal arts education, he entered Yeshi- va College, the liberal arts unit of Yeshiva University, in 1945, majoring in chemistry. The Israeli War of Indepen-dence in 1948 was to test his skills learned in the laboratory when, as a student, he was asked to work on a secret muni- tions project for the struggling state. The project was head- cd by Dr. Ernst D. Bergmann, who was later to become head of Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission. In 1949, Dr. Lamm was awarded the bachelor of arts degree sumrna cum laudc from Yeshiva College and was class valedictorian.Upon graduation, Dr. Lamm continued his scientific studies at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn while main- taining his Jewish studies at Yeshiva. He was ordained a rabbi at the University’s affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in 19…
Biographical Material

Tribute

In Honor of Dr. Norman Lamm (2010)

It is with great pleasure that I pay tribute to Dr. Lamm on the occasion of the celebration of the Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm prize presented this week to Rabbi Dr. Lord Jonathan Sacks. Dr. Lamm has been a distinguished leader of American Orthodoxy for more than half a century and of our yeshiva for close to three decades. One pasuk in the biblical book that bears his name describes Dr. Lamm’s tenacious and passionate efforts on behalf of our community. “...Man the guard posts, watch the road, gird your strength and gather much vigor” (Nachum 2:2).I want to frame my few words of tribute in honor of Dr. Lamm by making reference to the titles of some of his many works. Visionary leader and gifted orator, multi-faceted intellectual and powerful thinker. Dr. Lamm has devoted his life to the Jewish community. His “royal reach“ has embraced those who have both “faith and doubt,“ and the profundity of his teachings has illuminated many of the “seventy faces“ of Judaism, especially “Torah Utnadda.“ His thoughtful writings have contributed to our understanding of both Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin’s “Torah lishmah” as well as “the religious thought of Hasidism.“ His works have constructed a “hedge of roses" protecting and enhancing the “treasury of tradition,” the “halakhot ve'halikhot” of Jewish life, lore and practice. Collectively, they comprise a “library’ of Jewish law and ethics," serving as guides to contemporary Jewish life. In a lifetime of service to Klal Yisrael, Dr. Lamm has valiantly toiled to ensure that contemporary Jewish life be a “good society,” governed by the value of “shema ” or respectful listening.May Hakadosh Baruch Hu grant Dr. Lamm many more happy years of good health and sound mind to continue his very important work and to enjoy together with Mindy and all the members of their extraordinary and wonderful family.
Biographical Material

Article

The Very Model of a Modern Orthodox Jew (2001)

For 25 years, Rabbi Norman Lamm has been not only the president of Yeshiva University, but the unofficial president of modern Orthodoxy in America. Both the university and this wing of Orthodoxy have a mission of "Torah umada" – literally, Torah and science – balancing Jewish learning and strict adherence to Jewish law with engagement in the world at large. Now with Lamm, 73, having announced recently his plans to retire next year as president of Yeshiva University, the direction of both that institution and modern Orthodoxy in general is somewhat unclear. Finding a successor will be a challenge. With Orthodoxy becoming increasingly factionalized, observers say it will be difficult to find someone who shares Lamm’s combination of rabbinic and academic credentials – he has degrees in both chemistry and Jewish philosophy – and his ability to raise funds.Compounding the uncertainty about modern Orthodoxy’s future is the fact that its other major insti-tution in the United States - the Orthodox Union - is also seeking to replace its lop professional. The individuals who replace Lamm and the OU’s Rabbi Raphael Butler -who resigned in late January in the wake of a tremendous scandal.-will have a major influence on the character of modern Orthodoxy.Jonathan Sarna, the Braun Professor of Jewish History at Brandeis University, said that regardless of their position on the ideological spectrum, the incom-ing leaders of Yeshiva University and the Orthodox Union “arc going to face some very substan-tial challenges” because “Orthodoxy’s era of triumphalism is probably coming to a close."In a recent article in the journal Sh’ma, Sarna, who belongs to a modern Orthodox synagogue, argues that Orthodoxy’s future in North America is threatened by a “severe leadership crisis,” a "brain drain” to Israel and sharp divisions between right-wing and left-wing factions over how to confront modernity.But on Lamm’s watch, both Orthodoxy in general and Yeshiva University in particular have se…
Orthodoxy & Other Denominations Biographical Material