Dear Rabbi Lamm: It really cheered me up on this muggy, rainy Washington morning to read in today’s New York Times that you will head Yeshiva. I had been privately predicting your appointment for some time, not through any special prescience, but simply out of wishful thinking; I felt – and feel – that your appointment would be a wonderful thing for Judaism in general and Orthodoxy in particular. I tried to phone you today to express my congratulations orally, but, not surprisingly, your line was continually engaged. My one small regret is that I neglected to maintain closer contact with you over the past few years, while I was still at Oxford. Relative to your upcoming tasks, you had more time then to answer letters and provide guidance, as Michael Tabor, for one, knows so well. Incidentally, we were just in England recently, visiting my in-laws, and we heard that you had been there. Apparently our visit to Carmel College (where we have many close friends) took place a few days after yours. I am sure that you will now be far busier than previously, if that is possible, pulling Y.U.’s chestnuts out of the financial fire and helping to restore some vibrance to Yiddishkeit. Nevertheless, I hope we’ll hear from you from time to time. Barbara joins me in wishing you hatzlachah in a position for which your talents are more than equal. Yours always, Dov Zakheim