Dear Rabbi: This has reference to the letter dated February 21, 1961 I received from Rabbi Norman Lamm of New York in connection with the students to be sent to Israel – two for Rabbinate and one for Hazanut respectively. It was very kind of you to be prepared to accept them even before Pesach but I don't think it will be possible because of the Passport and other formalities. I shall get in touch with you immediately the young men are prepared to leave.Rabbi Lamm gave me to understand that the new term for the Rabbinate at Yeshiva Kol Torah commences from Rosh Hodesh Iyar – April 17, 1961. However he did not mention the date from which the term for Hazanut begins and the duration of the course. One more important piece of information I would like to have is, the medium of instruction at both these Yeshivoth. Whether this is in Hebrew or English or Hebrew and English as well?I shall be grateful if the above information is addressed to be by return of post.Tefillin – You shall hear in this matter almost immediately through a common friend of ours.With best regards and our grateful thanks for all that you are doing for us.Sincerely Yours,A.D. JhiradCopy to: Dr. Samson R Weiss, Executive Vice President U.O.J.C.A.

Dear Rabbi Gotthold: I do hope that the matters I discussed with you are receiving their due attention. I have every confidence that this is the case. The two young men who met with you and me concerning the accommodation of Yeshiva University graduates in either the Gold or Greenberg Institutes wrote to me but failed to indicate their proper return addresses. The boys are [redacted]. Will you please tell them that I received their index cards and will try to do my best.Best wishes for a Chag Kasher V’SameachSincerely yours,Rabbi Norman Lamm

Dear Rabbi Gotthold: Rabbi Lamm informed by Mr. Avner Tomaschoff of the Department for Torah Education of the World Zionist Organization that the Ministry of Religions would contribute one third of the cost of Tefillin for India and that the cost of one pair of Tefillin is IL 16. Would you kindly arrange for the immediate shipment of 200 pair of Tefillin to: UOJCI, c/o Magen Hasidim Synagogue, 8 Morland Road, Bombay 11. India. NT. Saul Bernstein, the Administrator of the Union, will arrive in Israel on or about June 23rd and will pay the amount IL 2,134 – two-thirds of the total price of 3,200 IL to the Ministry of Religions.I have advised our friends in India to apply immediately for a duty-free import license for 200 pair of Tefillin and would greatly appreciate your contacting the Indian Consulate from your end to facilitate the duty-free shipment of the Tefillin as a gift. I have, of course, informed the UOJCI that your Ministry is donating one-third of this shipment.It is a pleasure to establish again contact with you and to utilize this opportunity to thank you for your cooperation in our efforts for the Bene Israel of India.With kindest personal regards, I amVery sincerely yours,Dr. Samson R. WeissExecutive Vice PresidentRabbi Zev Gotthold Ministry of Religions Jerusalem, Israel

Dear Rabbi Lamm: Last Thursday [redacted] arrived in Israel. On Friday morning I went to see him at the Kol Torah Yeshivah and to confer with him and the leaders of the Yeshivah. I do not have to tell you that he makes a very fine impression. However, his background and knowledge are so far below the standard of the Yeshivah that we can hope until the holidays he will merely benefit from the atmosphere of the institution and make friends with his fellow-students. His Hebrew is not developed enough to permit him profitably to participate in classes. He will need private tutoring from Siddur and Chumash to intensive Hebrew language training to prepare him to enter the Yeshivah for the winter term. The administration of the Yeshivah is ready to maintain him as far as room and board is concerned. Other arrangements have not been clarified when you at Max Stern discussed the project with him. I must suggest that you investigate this point. They plan to assign one of their students as tutor, but for his language studies he needs a good professional teacher. Furthermore, he needs clothing and books. Iconic boys of the Yeshivah will not provide it as if he were a regular student. You know that in consideration of his sensitivity we cannot hand him out second-hand clothing. He will need a clothing-budget of about IL 250. As far as books are concerned, including Tefillin and paraphernalia, we shall try to meet the needs between our Ministry and the Jewish Agency.

Dear Rabbi Gotthold: Please accept my expressions of admiration at the dispatch with which you handled the "Indian purity" affair. I must say that I cannot blame the Bene Israel for their agitation. At the same time, I am completely nonplussed by what seems to be Rabbi Nissim's acquiescence to the delegation which visited him and his agreement to affirm the permissive decisions of the two late Chief Rabbis, especially after he hedged when I broached the matter to him several months ago. I am glad to hear, however, that he is now ready to go along with the "heter." I do not recall if I have kept you abreast of my own correspondence on this matter. I have written to Rabbi Rozovsky some four times asking him to publish his essay, then to add, if he feels unqualified, that the discussion is meant as theoretical and not in the form of a legal decision. He has not as much as answered one of my letters, although he promised to when I visited him in Bnai Brak.Neither has Rabbi Unterman in Tel Aviv answered me yet, although I discussed the matter with him too when I was in Israel. I am certainly most interested in receiving a copy of the paper by Rabbi Rozovsky which, I gather from your letter, Rabbi Itamar has in his possession.I am confident that you will do your level best to urge the rabbinate to come to a decision – one way or the other – very quickly and conclusively.With regard to the technical questions concerning Nagavker, I am leaving that and all other matters of this nature in the capable hands of Dr. Samson R. Weiss, who will be contacting you about them.I will discuss with Dr. Weiss your recommendation that Rabbi Shweika be sent to Bombay as a rabbi. Perhaps you ought to send to Dr. Weiss (who is in constant contact with me) a description in somewhat greater detail of Rabbi Shweika's qualifications as well as the expected remuneration, etc.Thank you once again, and do let me hear from you about Tradition.Sincerely yours,Rabbi Norman Lamm

Dear Rabbi Gotthold: Let me take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the assistance you so graciously offered during my week in the Holy Land. The enclosed letter to Mr. Jhirad, the coordinator of our activities in Bombay, will speak for itself. I trust that you will give him every assistance in the matter of the Tefillin and in the placement of the three young men in the two Yeshivoth.Regarding the Tefillin, I obtained something more than a half promise from Bet Aryeh that he would go along with us on the arrangement. I suggest that you work on him either directly or through Tomashov.The young man you sent to my uncle's home to be interviewed by me for Calcutta, Abraham David, promised to notify you of his decision no later than March 1st. I am most anxious that we get someone for this post. Please do keep us informed about developments on this matter.Correspondence on all substantive matters should be directed to Dr. Samson R. Weiss at the UOJCA, 84 5th Avenue, New York 11, N.Y.Finally, let me remind you about our discussions concerning a regular column by you for "Tradition". We are most anxiously looking forward to receipt of the manuscript for the first appearance in the new column. It should be in my hands no later than May 15th.With thanks once again.Sincerely yours,Rabbi Norman Lamm

Dear Rabbi Gotthold: Just two days ago Dr. Samson R. Weiss wrote to you concerning the situation of the Bene Israel in India and Israel, and the apparent acceptance of Rabbi Nissim in the face of pressure by the Agency. Speaking personally, I cannot conceal my great distress at the Israeli Rabbinate refusing to budge when petitioned by their Orthodox colleagues in America, but evidently knuckling under completely with a sudden appreciation of the flexibility of the Halakhah when confronted by political pressure. It is to my mind, and again I speak personally, a major tragedy.I am even more distressed by the fact that Rabbi Nissim and the Sephardi leaders did absolutely nothing when as the representative of the U.O.J.C.A. and the R.C.A. I begged him to recommend someone as a rabbi for India. It seems as if a Conservative layman – Mr. B.B. Benjamin of the United Synagogue of India – has more influence with the Israeli Rabbinate than an Orthodox rabbi from the United States.But in addition to the umbrage that an American Rav can rightly take in this situation, I am concerned that Rabbi Nissim will be bestowing recognition upon the United Synagogue of India and therefore completely undermine the work of the Orthodox Union In India. Is there no way of impressing upon the Rabbinate in Israel the importance of at least consulting with those of us in the States who have tried so hard to keep Orthodoxy alive in the Bombay area?I might mention that I have as yet received no replies from either Rabbi Rozovsky or Rabbi Unterman.I know that you probably are even more aware of the dark side of things than I am. Nevertheless, I felt impelled to write the above. Please do see to it that anything that can be done to rectify the situation and prevent any difficulties from arising in the future is done.Sincerely,Rabbi Norman Lamm

Dear Rabbi Weiss: Permit me to reply to your letter of 6.21, and those of Rabbi Lamm of 6.9 and 6.23, together. By virtue of my position I am constrained in giving you the fulness of reply which your questions deserve. The Director General of our Ministry, Dr. S. Z. Kahane, informed me, upon reading your letters, that your remarks are related to the various organizations in the Diaspora. They should be ruled by those organizations themselves in their entirety, and you cannot excuse yourself by evading their conflicting statements on the same issues. A line of policy was laid down by our authorities and we are already committed to it with all possible implications. Our Ministry secured a favorable vote from the Knesset for financial allocations in order to make possible the financing for religious functions. The same could not be secured from the Ministry for Agriculture and similar Rabbis as it could be secured from the Ministry for Religious Functions. This might explain to you the position taken by Rabbi Nissim and his ruling. We must make clear that this is a firm position about the financing aspect for sending and maintaining rabbis in your country. I cannot tell you what brought on Rabbi Nissim’s change of heart. Later – today – I have an appointment with him together with Dr. Kahane and after further elucidation I shall add it later. Professor Tartakower is in close correspondence with Mr. Benjamin of the World Jewish Congress in New York. Mr. Benjamin informed me that Rabbi Shevitz had no chance to be appointed in Bombay because of the Rabbinate’s opposition to have an Ashkenazi Rabbi in Bombay. Mr. Benjamin’s opposition to have an orthodox Rabbi is based on religious grounds, as was pointed out that his financial interest in this affair is the safeguarding of the Bnei Yisroel’s rights and combating discrimination. He does not exclude such responsibility though you were to contact the World Institute in New York and to come with them to an agreement. Our Mi…

Dear Rabbi Gotthold: I have not yet received any direct reply from you to my previous communications, but I do want to add my own comments to the recent correspondence between yourself and Dr. Weiss. Please forgive me if my expressions are sometimes harsh; they are not, however, inaccurate. I had all my life been led to expect a certain level of conduct from the halakhic authorities of our people, especially in the Holy Land. When such expectations are frustrated, the reaction cannot and should not be one of passive acceptance. The fact remains that when I spoke to Rabbi Nissim on behalf of the Rabbinical Council of America and the U.O.J.C.A., and emphasized the critical nature of the problem, his response was one of cold, and even a bit callous, indifference. The Indian Jews did not matter all too much, since the Halakhah was the Halakhah. He made this even to the point that he would not prevent any local Beth Din from coming to a valid halakhic decision, and that if Rabbi Rozovsky would publish his essay, and other leading Rabbis would agree with it and dissenting from Rabbis making intercourse with the Benei Israel, he would have no comments. Otherwise, he assured me, there were his things he was going to do. Since then I have been in contact with Rabbi Rozovsky, with Rabbi Unterman, and with Rabbi Kahaneman. The first two have never bothered to answer my letters. The third has thus far not informed me whether or not he has succeeded in prevailing upon Rabbi Rozovsky to publish his essay. In other words, if it was only an Orthodox rabbi requesting a ruling on a matter of major importance to some twenty thousand of our poor and uninfluential fellow Jews, not only was his request not honored, but his letters went unanswered. When, however, the secularists make one solitary move, then the whole structure of the Israeli Rabbinate begins to tremble. Goldmann winks, a Mapam member of Knesset makes a speech, and the Rabbinate is all ears. Rabbi Nissim is suddenly made…

Dear Rabbi Lamm, When I received your letter I knew it was a rather hopeless cause. The Shochtim had been neat-roaded through, Rabbi Ruvain Katz not attending out of protest. Since certain circles (Agudah) would like to make political hay out of it, I was told that whatever appeared in the press is all that will be published. Instructions to the readers how to handle B’nai Israel applicants have not been issued yet. Within the next 10 days it may be issued upon his directive. I doubt whether he’ll rescind it, though pressure is brought to bear on him and others is soon. If anything further will develop, I’ll let you know. Rabbi Nissim himself has sincerely to thank for your breaking out of the idea of sending Rabbi Shevitz to Bombay. In order to avoid losing ground there entirely, particularly after the Conservative Benjamin group has consented to leave him, possibly our Ministry together with the WJC may send him there for half a year. I personally am sorry that the UOJCA is taking such an attitude. Have you found anyone better? Keep well, Zev G.