Dear Mr. Misheikers: I am deeply appreciative of the honor done to me by your Board in inviting me to visit your community for your Jewish Education Campaign early in 1964. It would have given me very great pleasure indeed to avail myself of this opportunity to pay my first visit to South Africa and to meet its outstanding Jewish community. But after the most careful consideration, and following consultation with my officers, I find that it will regrettably be impossible for me to contemplate a protracted absence from New York during the next winter and spring season, particularly since I was only six months ago absent on a month's lecture tour in England. The period between Rosh Hashanah and Pesach is the busiest in our congregational calendar, and as we have no assistant Rabbi, many of our activities would grind to a standstill during my absence. I wonder, however, whether it would be of any help to you if I suggested to you an alternative visitor who might be agreeable to accepting the assignment. The Rabbi I have in mind is Rabbi Norman Lamm, the distinguished Associate Rabbi of the Jewish Center (131 West 86th street, New York City), our sister congregation in New York. He is a splendid speaker and enjoys a nation-wide reputation as one of the outstanding scholars and lecturers in the American Orthodox Rabbinate. His name may be familiar to you as the first editor of Tradition, now the leading Rabbinical magazine in this country. He has also had some invaluable foreign experience, notably through his important mission to the Jewish communities in India on behalf of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America a few years ago. I have no doubt that his messages would be received with great acclaim by all his audiences.I hope I may look forward to some future occasion for such a visit. Meanwhile, I trust you will appreciate the difficulties in the way of accepting your gracious invitation this time.Wishing your sacred endeavors every possible success, I …

Dear Rabbi Lamm, Thank you for your letter of the 26th November. I quite appreciate the sorrow which the tragic assassination of President Kennedy must have cast over the United States. I can assure you that this was not confined to America alone, for the late President Kennedy was one of the great leaders of modern times. He was certainly the most dynamic, the most imaginative and the most courageous head of state the Western world possessed. He was, perhaps, the first leader of one of the great powers imbued with the true spirit of the Twentieth Century. For him justice, freedom and equality were human virtues worth fighting for. Let us hope that his fight for human rights will not be in vain. Rabbi Goss's book, I hope, will give you some material on the background, the aspirations, the goals and the type of Jewish education in South Africa which we represent. I do not think that there is a basic difference between our aims and yours. I would like you to know that our Jewish Day Schools - King David Schools - only devote approximately one hour a day to Hebraic studies, apart from the early morning and Minchah services, which take approximately, another forty minutes. When you see the King David School, which was only established in 1949 with six pupils and numbers today, well over two thousand in Johannesburg alone, you will be able to judge for yourself. I am enclosing several of my stories and articles, which may give you a glimpse of the type of community you will meet in the very near future. With all good wishes, Sincerely, A. Misheiker Organiser-Secretary P.S. Enclosed please find first press cuttings dealing with your forthcoming visit to South Africa.

My dear Rabbi Lamm, I hope that your return flight was pleasant and I can imagine the welcome that awaited you on your arrival in New York. This is just a brief note to tell you once again how much we all enjoyed your stay with us. Apart from the official aspect of your visit which was an outstanding success, all of us here – Rabbi Goss, Mr. Horwitz and I, look back on your visit as a very pleasant and rewarding experience and one during which we all think we have cemented a lasting friendship. It is not easy at our age to form new friendships and the fact that all three of us as well as members of the Board have taken you to our hearts is proof of the impact you have made on us all. The books you left behind are being posted to you, the scrapbook is almost complete and will be sent to you in the very near future and the tape of your Conference address will be posted to you as soon as sufficient copies are made for our use; this should not take very long. With best wishes and warmest regards to you and your family. Yours sincerely, A. Misheiker, Organiser-Secretary