Dear Friend: On February 19, 1959, there will be an Executive Committee meeting of the Yeshiva University Rabbinic Alumni at 10 A.M. in Klein Hall. Following this meeting, we will have the pleasure of listening to our distinguished colleague, Rabbi Norman Lamm, Associate Rabbi of The Jewish Center, who will speak to us on "The Orthodox Position on Family Pews: Interpreting it to the Laity." If you remember, we had originally scheduled Rabbi Lamm’s paper to be read at our last annual Convention in Lakewood. Since, however, Rabbi Lamm was unable to attend, we had postponed his lecture until further notice. We are now very happy to be able to enjoy Rabbi Lamm’s address at our next executive meeting.In accordance with our resolution passed at the Convention, we are engaging on an enlarged schedule cultural programs for this coming year. One of the resolutions called upon the Rabbinic Alumni to arrange various work-shops and seminars in the field of Practical Rabbinics. As a result, I am happy to inform you that arrangements have been made for us to visit the 999 Real Kosher Sausage Co., on 15 Rivington Street, New York City, on Monday, February 9, 19590 Incidentally the factory is owned by Rabbi David H. Hill, an alumnus of our Yeshiva.This visit will commence at 10 A.M, and we will have an opportunity to watch the preparation of meats in accordance with Halachic requirements-. We assure you that you will find this most enlightening, and an experience which will be worth your while in the field of Kashruth. Please be good enough to fill out the enclosed card indicating your intention to be present.Very sincerely yours,RABBI FABIAN SCHONFELD, Chairman CULTURAL PROGRAM

Dear Rabbi Schonfeld: I have before me your announcement concerning the interesting program scheduled for February 19. Unfortunately, it is impossible for me to come to New York again before the end of March. I am especially unhappy, however, over the prospect of missing this session since Rabbi Lamm’s topic is of the greatest pertinence to my own situation, as you know. I am in Wichita with a “heter” from Rabbi Soloveitchik giving me a reasonable time to correct the special arrangement in our small synagogue. I have read many favorable comments on Rabbi Lamm’s treatment of this touchy topic, and, for all that I have written and spoken and read on this subject to date, I still feel that I would benefit from his presentation. I daresay, there are probably far more rabbis in outlying areas, unable to attend these meetings, who are in need of this discussion than there are in the metropolitan area. This gives a pressing immediacy to the step I urged Rabbi Bernstein to take at our Mid-Winter Conference last month. At that time, I suggested similar sentiments about even so informal a discussion as that which the Rabbinic Alumni held at our last dinner: important services and the responsibility of the Yeshiva should impel us toward the regular dissemination of this effort in the field. Since the rules of a convention and the constraints upon the papers presented, I don’t think this would in any way diminish the stature of Yeshiva. I believe that such transcripts or tapes would be equally welcomed by those who attended, but were unable to hear clearly, as well as those who found it very slip by the listener, who would be refreshed for the opportunity to review the material back home. This is not really a difficult project. The technical end could be easily arranged, especially if first services of the Audio-Visual Department were employed. I am sure that our colleagues would be happy to pay for these transcripts or tapes and help to defray the costs of the program. There…

Dear Fabian: I just received word of the forthcoming honor which will be tendered to you by the Rabbinic Alumni on April 2nd and 3rd. Because the letter is unclear as to exactly when the dinner in your honor will be held, I find myself in a bit of a quandary. I had long ago accepted a lecture engagement for Sunday night, April 2nd in Flushing. I hope very fervently that your dinner will be held at some other time because I am anxious to be present personally to pay you tribute.Good luck and best regards,Cordially yours,Rabbi Norman LammRNL/fz

Dear Fabian: As you had requested, I am returning to you the enclosed copy of Siegman’s report on the two consultations. I hope you do not mind that I made some penciled comments in the margins. With one or two exceptions they should prove legible and relevant. In short, while I had a number of criticisms on this report, and a number of inaccuracies, I do not find anything in it that would get me excited about violations of the standards we had set for such dialogues.All my best.Cordially,Norman.:cwEnc.

Harav Dr. Norman Lamm, President of Yeshiva University, 186 Street & Amsterdam Avenue, New York City NY. The Rabbinical Council of America meeting in Jerusalem extends its hearty congratulations to you upon your election president of Yeshiva University. We are certain that under your inspired leadership our Yeshiva will attain new heights as a bastion of Torah. Yevarachecha Hashem miTzion. Walter Wurtzberger, President; Berl Rosensweig, Vice President; Fabian Schonfeld, Emanuel Holzer, Conference Chairmen.

Dear Norman: I know that you have received hundreds of notes of congratulations and that you also received the telegram which we sent you on behalf of the Rabbinical Council of America from our conference in Jerusalem. It may please you to know that we made the official announcement in Hechal Shlomo in the presence of Prime Minister Rabin and that the announcement was greeted with tremendous applause. Your appointment is a source of pride to us all both in the RCA and in the Yeshiva alumni and I need not tell you that you may look forward to the active and sincere cooperation of the entire Orthodox community. I am joined in my good wishes to you by the members of my congregation which already has displayed its keen interest in the welfare of Yeshiva University throughout these many years. May the Almighty grant you and Mindy and all members of your family many years of successful and prosperous activity.

Dear Norman: Please forgive the delay in responding to your communication regarding the address you delivered at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue. I had been out of the country, as had you, but I trust it is not too late to offer the following comments. I cannot disagree with the substance of your thinking and I share many of the sentiments expressed. I do, however, feel compelled to raise two points. First, and most importantly, by using the adjective “Centrist” we risk giving the impression that we are less committed to Torah, or less enthusiastic, than those perceived as being to our right. I emphatically deny this is so. There may be different approaches to the goal of Torah living, but each is fully legitimate. In my recent sermon at the OU Retreat I emphasized this point strongly. By referring to ourselves as “Centrist” we imply that we are somehow on a lower level of observance, which is not true. If what we do is within the framework of halakha, then terms like left, right, or Centrist make little difference; what matters is legitimacy and commitment. My second point relates to your description of Conservative and Reform rabbis as valid religious leaders though not legitimate. To the ordinary person, such a distinction has little meaning, and I do not believe we ought to say that they are “valid” at all. If what we mean is that, pragmatically, they are perceived by their congregations as leaders, then we should find a way to express this without ascribing any religious validity. From my perspective they are not valid, even though I meet with them, talk with them, and at times agree with them in certain areas of Jewish life, especially as described by the Rav in his guidelines. Other than these points, I believe you have expressed my feelings beautifully and adequately, and I hope you will not be unduly disturbed by the recent attacks on you in some columns of the Anglo-Jewish press. With kindest regards, most sincerely, Fabian Schonfeld.

Dear Fabian: It was wonderful to spend a few days in your company in a somewhat more relaxed atmosphere than is possible elsewhere. I do believe, however, that we need to get together on a smaller scale to review the Conference and its many suggestions. The one comment that I made to you personally I want to repeat in writing. Your well known speech regarding “The Cave” has been appreciated by many and misinterpreted by some. It is very much in line with the order given by Hashem to Noach after the deluge of מִן־הַתֵּבָה צֵא אַתָּה. It seems to me, as I conveyed to you in person, that many of our Musmachim who have followed your thought process, which is so amiti, left the cave and are creating their own oases by holding intellectual isolation and thus escaping the responsibilities towards the established Jewish community. There is now an elitist intellectual isolation which permits the very people who preach communal involvement to do so in public forums and in public sessions but do not do so in their private lives vis-à-vis the established community. I am not saying that they should not attend Minyanim of their own liking, but certainly ought to identify through membership and community participation with the aims and purposes of the established Kehillah in the community in which they reside. I do believe that this is one of the most important and pressing matters that we have to face. Furthermore, permit me to suggest again that we dispense with the labels that we attach to ourselves. If we are committed to Torah at its highest level and need not apologize for it, nor do we need to define ourselves any further. With regard to your views on the Chief Rabbinate in Israel, I think it needs further clarification and deserves more in-depth discussion. Again, let me state what a pleasure it was to spend Shabbat with you and Mindy and I am looking forward to seeing you shortly. With kindest regards, sincerely yours, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld