Dear Rabbi Lamm: As per our telephone conversation, allow me to give you a brief summary of Gesher progress in the United States. Finances: In the last twelve months we have solicited pledges and contributions totaling approximately $38,000. This excludes the $10,000 pledge of Mr. Stanley Stern which occurred well before this period. Nine individuals have pledged $1,000 or more, including well-known philanthropists like Mr. Ludwig Jesselson and Mr. Louis Striar. The balance of the $38,000 has come from smaller donations, membership dues, and profits from our various social functions.In addition, Gesher has received grants from various agencies of the Israeli Government, and a grant from the Rothschild Foundation of England. I am requesting a precise breakdown of the nature of these grants from our Israeli office.Organization:We began the building of a broad-based membership organization here in the United States, in September of 1970. Since that time we have attracted 340 dues-paying members and expect to pass the 500 mark by the end of February 1971.A Gesher branch in Los Angeles-Beverly Hills has already raised over \$1,500, and we have firm commitments from Mr. Herbert Joshua to organize a Gesher function in Minneapolis, from Mr. Murray Cohen in Cleveland, and from Rabbi Emmanuel Forman in Toronto.In New York City we have been organizing various types of functions for our membership. The latest of these is the Champagne & Silver affair of last Saturday night which, as you know, attracted hundreds of people and was an unqualified success.We have established liaison with the National Council of Synagogue Youth, with the ultimate ambition to create a junior Gesher for pre-college youth, with NCSY youngsters at the base.In addition, we have made close contact with the Zionist Youth Foundation of America, and are presently negotiating for an office and free secretarial service at the Jewish Agency.All of these activities are being supervised by a very active Gesh…

Dear Rabbi Lamm: I am enclosing a copy of a letter sent by Deputy Minister Shaki to Mr. Louis Striar. Mr. Striar, who made an annual commitment of $2000 to Gesher, had requested the Ministry's critique of Gesher progress. While such complimentary blurbs are a dime a dozen, this letter amounts to an an official endorsement from the Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture, something which I understand is quite unusual. I am taking the liberty of sending a copy of the letter to Stanley Stern, and trust that you will keep a copy on file for appropriate use. Getting on to other things, I plan to visit Israel in March and will use the opportunity to review Gesher's progress and to plot its future together with Danny. Danny, is especially eager for such a reappraisal, and will be very receptive to constructive criticism. Before I go, I would like to hear your views in greater detail. I'll be happy to meet with you at your convenience, perhaps over lunch one day, to discuss Gesher's future. ?lease let me know if and when you can squeeze me into that infamous schedule of yours. Best regards, ChaimDear Mr. Striar, Dr. Daniel Tropper of the Gesher Foundation has asked me to write to you a critique of Gesher and apprise you of my impressions of their activities. The Ministry of Education regards Gesher as one of the most important new movements on the Israeli educational and cultural scene. A number of their programs have, in fact, received official grants from the Ministry, and this at a time of "belt-tightening" when allocations are not easily granted. These programs include: 1. The Gesher lecture program in High Schools and Kibbutzim 2. The Gesher seminar program for religious and non-religious youngsters at Kfar Etzion (a revolutionary idea in Israel and one which, from the reactions of school principals, I know has met with unusual success). 3. Gesher publications May I add a personal note. When Dr. Tropper first arrived in Israel to begin Gesher, I was somewhat skeptic…

Dear Chaim: This is the correspondence dealing with Gesher, which I discussed with you when we met. I assume that by now you have not only received a telephone call from my secretary but also acted on it in notifying Danny to send the material about Gesher to the Prime Minister as soon as possible. I have sent copies of this material to Eliezer Shefer, who is a shaliach to Mizrachi youth in New York and who, together with Mr. Shiff of Hatzofe were the ones who told me about Mrs. Meir's proposal and recommended that I act on it. It was a pleasure spending time with you this past week and I very much appreciate the efficiency with which you responded to my request. Be well. Cordially yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm

Dear Rabbi Lamm, I met with Dr. Burg on Erev Shabbat concerning your letter to Golda Meir. In between his various jokes and stories, I managed to learn that a committee composed of members of just about every party has been formed to oversee the Shapiro project. Burg, therefore, called the project "non-political." However, in subsequent meetings with the Ministry's spokesman Yaakov Agassi (Shapiro’s ex-azaer) and a few other insiders I was able to piece together the following:The “committee” is a collection of names, but in actual practice it is a Mafdal-directed affair. The Shapiro project, it seems, will after all be Gush Etzion—but not the kibbutz Kfar Etzion, rather the *Mercaz Azori* (the hill on which the Yeshiva stands—where you slept the night you attended the seminar). They plan to develop that hill—or *Yad Shapiro* as it is slated to be called—into a large educational center to the tune of IL 10 million. The Rothschilds are throwing in the lion’s share (here's where Rav Amital got his money), the government will give another large chunk, and private donations will complete it.Now \_\_\_ has been informed that if he agrees to move his *Beit Sefer Sadeh* and proposed *Midrashiat Har Chevron* to the *Mercaz Azori*, he can share in the kitty. However, \_\_\_ has stubbornly refused. He is interested in Kfar Etzion and that’s it. Despite the many logical reasons other than financial presented to dissuade him (e.g., a kibbutz is a community and not the place where you want groups of visiting kids floating around all day), he has stubbornly refused.Agassi and Moskovitz of Misrad HaPnim have told me frankly that if we can convince \_\_\_ to make the move and join him in his Midrashiat Har Chevron, there can be quite a bit of money for Gesher in the deal. However, I know \_\_\_ well, and he will not budge. No amount of money will lure him from furthering the development of his precious Kfar Etzion in the direction that he wants.And so this is the situation. Natural…

Dear Rabbi Lamm: Enclosed, please find a poster announcing the series of Gesher summer seminars for Israeli youth. It is being posted primarily in Israeli high schools with ongoing Gesher programs. You may wish to display this poster in your synagogue. In addition to these, several seminars on Yahadut for young Russian immigrants exclusively, are being planned. You may be interested to learn that Gesher incurs a deficit of $800 for each regular seminar, and a considerably larger deficit for the Russian seminars, (as the Russian youngsters cannot afford even our modest charges). We can ill afford to absorb such deficits, but as you have recommended, the seminars have been so spectacularly successful that they are receiving our highest priority. We are also enclosing a copy of the latest Daf Gesher, our Hebrew newsletter, which summarizes some of the activities of the last months for our Israeli followers. As you can see, Gesher is gaining momentum. Kindest regards, Chaim Billet

Dear Mr. Billet: Your latest The Jerusalem Letter was very interesting and made informative and enjoyable reading. I am curious as to the identity of the man you mention on page 4, by the name of Rabbi Norman Lamm. It will be quite interesting if we were related since he too, according to the report, teaches at Yeshiva University. I tried to locate him at the synagogue you mention, the West Side Jewish Center and I learned from them that he was a rabbi there for 10 months in 1952. If you contact him, please ask him to call me. If you have other things of greater important to do, do them. Cordially yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm.

Dear Chaim and Dan: Although I thanked you orally when you gave me the gift of the painting by [hebrew], I want to put into writing the profound feelings of gratitude by my wife and myself as well as all our children. It is only after I came home and viewed the painting from a distance, that I realized how stunningly beautiful it is. It is so expressive and so meaningful, esthetically as well as personally, that we will treasure it and hope to cherish it for many years to come. As I told you, it was really unnecessary to do anything of this sort for me. My feelings for Gesher is both ideological and personal, with no thought of מתן שכרה בצדה Nevertheless, your gesture is something I deeply appreciate from every point of view. Anything more I can say will be superfluous; hence, just the two words - "Thank You." Cordially yours, Rabbi Norman Lamm