Dear Walter: Enclosed please find the remains of my stewardship of "Tradition." It gives me a sad feeling, upon sending them to you, to know that henceforth I shall no longer experience the pangs of panic, hysteria, and utter disgust at the quality of material received. I regretfully bequathe these redourbtable experiences to you. I met with Larry this morning and, as a result I am mailing to you the following consisting of: a number of rejected articles (for use in absolute emergency only) and, I suggest, after first contacting the author for permission; some correspondence with a number of people you may want to contact for articles; correspondence relating to reviews and articles promised but never received and other sundry material).Also, please include in your next issue some note of "books received", i.e. books which are inappropriate even for a "briefly noted". In them, please include Baruch Spinoza’s Principals of Cartesian Phil." newly translated by Harry E. Wedeck with a preface by Dagobert D. Runes Philosophical Library New York 1961.Cordially yours,Rabbi Norman LammNL:ffEnclsFile: Warzburger

Dear Mr. Lamm: My last communication to you called your attention to the fact that I had received a duplicate copy of the Fall, 1961 Tradition journal. I had asked whether your Spring, 1962 edition had already appeared. Instead you sent me now a 3rd copy of the Fall, 1961 edition. Please be good enough to let me know whether your Spring, 1962 number has already been published. Sincerely yours, Herman E. Schaalman, Rabbi. P.S. The mail today brought me now a 4th copy of the Fall, 1961 issue. Enough is enough!

Dear Walter: A couple of years ago I wrote a paper, for my own amusement, on “The Holiday of the Exiles” – a defense of the Orthodox position on “Yom Tov Sheni.” It has been gathering dust in my files ever since. Now someone has made available to me the enclosed report which, as I had suspected years ago, was both to appear and ultimately result in the Conservatives accepting the Reform position, and presenting us with a new issue for public controversy. Unfortunately, with our extremely un-hierarchical structure, we have no central authority to mobilize our forces in advance to meet oncoming problems. I believe, therefore, that especially in this instance, Tradition is best equipped to deal with this matter in a substantive way.If we wait until the issue is broached publicly by the Conservatives, we will then be reduced once again to wild and undignified polemics instead of an intellectually respectable position.I therefore would like to suggest to you that you arrange, as soon as possible, to set aside a special issue of *Tradition* treating this topic. I do not mean that no other articles be included; rather, that you have a concentration of material dealing with this theme. I would invite especially historians to analyze it carefully, and then articulate halakhists to treat it from their point of view and, finally, some intellectual publicistic material to be included as well.Let me know what you think about the proposal, and please please return the enclosed to me. Also, if you want to see the essay I once wrote, provided I can find it, I shall be glad to mail it on to you.Sincerely,RABBI NORMAN LAMM

Dear Walter and Mrs. Wurzburger: My wife and I were very pleased to receive your invitation to the Bar-Mitzvah of your son Myron Israel. We would very much have enjoyed being able to attend and participate in your wonderful Simcheh. Having known Walter as long as I have, and being as fond of him as I am, I would have regarded it as a supreme pleasure to be with you at this occasion. Unfortunately, however, you can well realize that distance and my community commitments here make it impossible for us to attend. Please forgive us, and do accept our very best wishes from afar.May you be the recipients of undiminished blessings from the Almighty, and have the privilege of seeing your son grow into full Jewish manhood and become a source of pride, joy, and Nachas to you and all your family.Cordially yours,RABBI NORMAN LAMM

As per our telephone conversation, I am enclosing Berkovits’ manuscript. Would you please return it to me as soon as possible.

Dear Norman: Your most recent note brought me much delight. At long last I discovered that even you are not perfect. The Leo Jung Jubilee Volume was reviewed in the Fall 1963 issue. With respect to Jung’s “Men of the Spirit”, I would like you to know that we lack the financial resources to purchase the book. If the publisher would make available to us a copy, we would be glad to find a reviewer for it. As to his Hildesheimer article, I am not too keen on it. But before making a final decision, I would like to take another look at it.

Dear Walter: I am enclosing a list of twenty-four (24) articles which we selected for inclusion in the volume we intend to co-edit. Rentgeveoser and I would recommend one of two names: "The Best in Tradition," or "A Tradition Treasury." The total number of "Tradition" pages for the twenty-four (24) articles enclosed is 430 for all of them, and 388 if we exclude No. 13 and No. 14. To this has to be added the Halakhic Digest we talked about, to be pre-edited by Rabbi Jakobovits, plus a few extra pages of introduction and biographical description of contributors.May I recommend that you now try to group these articles into various areas such as: Israel, The Synagogue, America, Review Articles, Criticism, etc.I await your response in alienated disintegration, anxiously awaiting my monistic redemption.Co-editorially yours

Dear Norman: Sidney Hoenig suggested that we append to our Tradition Reader an index of all the articles and reviews that appeared in Tradition since its inception. I think it might be a good idea. Would you arrange for someone who could undertake this? Perhaps some Y.U. student could use a few extra dollars. I hope to hear from you soon. Warmest regards. Cordially, Walter S. Wurzburger, Editor

Dear Norman: Many thanks for your letter of the 16th which just reached me today. I am grateful to you for undertaking the chore of getting consent of our contributors for “A Tradition Treasury.” With respect to your own article, I frankly would prefer that we do not include any articles appearing after the summer issue 1965. Frankly, I also believe that your extra-terrestrial piece is a bit too spacious for such a Reader. I have also a slight personal interest in the publication of your Unity theme since my Pluralism in the Halakhah is predicated upon it. In the event that you decide to pull yours out, I must make very extensive revisions in my own article.I certainly think that excerpts of your editorial piece should be made available to various weekly magazines. I could certainly bring it to their attention, but if you have better contacts, why not use them? I’ll see to it that you get page proofs either directly or to the magazines directly.The Balshan is in writing but not in contractual form. I have no doubt that they would be willing to sign a contract.Just one other personal comment, I must correct your statement that your handwriting versus mine is. Compared to mine, yours is a work of art, worthy of the disciple of Rabbi Kook’s yearning for beauty and harmony.As ever, yours,Cordially,Walter WurzburgerPublished by the Rabbinical Council of America

Dear Izzie: Walter and I have drawn up a list of articles to be included in “A Tradition Treasury.” The enclosed is the draft of a letter we'd like sent to the contributors. The accompanying sheet provides the names of the writers and their articles. Please have your office send this out and inform us of all responses. Best wishes and, p.g., Cordially yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm. Dear ________, It has been proposed that in the near future there will be published an anthology of articles that have appeared over the past several years in *TRADITION*. We have been asked by the RCA to act as co-editors of the book which, we hope, will present some of the more enduring material of *TRADITION* in an attractive, permanent form.Accordingly, we have consulted with the Editorial Committee of *TRADITION*, and with each other, and have compiled a list of articles for re-publication in what we have decided to call *A Tradition Treasury*. Included in this list is your material, namely, your article on \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.We solicit your written consent for publication in *A Tradition Treasury*. Please bear in mind that we want to re-publish the articles as they are, and can accept only typographical corrections and deletion of material which you may believe may be obsolete. No additions can be accepted.Please be kind enough to send us your consent as well as the minor corrections mentioned as soon as possible.Sincerely,RABBI WALTER WURZBURGERRABBI NORMAN LAMMNL/lg