Dear Mr. Isaac: Thank you very much for sending me your heavily ironic article concerning the German sense of guilt. I enjoyed reading it very much – i.e., I enjoyed the literary quality whilst reacting with anguish at the content. My frank opinion is that the article should be circulated privately, but not printed. The reasons you give in your note to me are entirely correct. Irony is understood only by more intelligent people. Most individuals will simply fail to see your point and attribute to you ideas which are diametrically opposed to those you are really trying to enunciate.With all good wishes.Sincerely,Rabbi Norman Lamm

Dear Rabbi Itamar: I have often thought of the fact that we in the Diaspora ought to emulate the synagogues in Israel in celebrating the Tenth of Tevet as a special day of memory for the martyrs of Europe. I would therefore very much appreciate your sending me whatever published material you may have on the origin of the custom and especially on special services, etc. If at all possible, I would like to institute the same custom in our Synagogue and perhaps in others in the United States. Please convey my fondest regards to all members of your family and to all our mutual friends.Sincerely,RABBI NORMAN LAMMNL\:ff

Dear Dr. Heller: Thank you for the photocopy of the article about Arendt which you sent me. I quite agree with you that the calumnies which she is spreading on campuses throughout the country are scandalous. Certainly, as you suggest, a group should get together to do something about it. I sympathize with your aims and want to help – although, because of my forthcoming trip to South Africa in February, please God, I shall be unable to take an active part in the foreseeable future. May God be with you in your endeavors to salvage the honor of the martyrs of our people against the onslaught of this embittered person. Sincerely, Rabbi Norman Lamm.

Dear Rabbi Lamm: You recently wrote me a letter in which you expressed your concern over the activities of German citizens in the armaments industry of the United Arab Republic. I would like to assure you that I not only appreciate your concern but that I, as well as my Government, share it. The Federal Government has declared in a statement on the 27th of March, 1963, that it condemns the participation of German citizens in the development and production of weapons in areas of tensions.Before I point out the efforts which the German Government has taken in this regard, I would like to clarify several facts which have been grossly distorted and exaggerated by newspapers and other reports:It is not true that German scientists in the UAR work on the development of nuclear, bacteriological, or chemical weapons. This has been confirmed by investigations made by the German Government as well as by the American Government. They take part, however, in the development and production of jet engines for airplanes and rockets.The number of German scientists working in the UAR has been very much exaggerated. There are hardly more than half a dozen of them; all the other Germans mentioned in this context are merely technicians and workmen.Not only German scientists and technicians but also nationals of other countries are involved in these projects.None of the German citizens in the UAR work there on behalf or with the acquiescence of the German Government, but they do so entirely on their own initiative. As I have already pointed out, the German Federal Government condemns their activities.It is true, however, that a number of German scientists and technicians are working in the UAR on the development and the production of modern weapons. I agree that — after the horrible events of the 1940s — it is particularly inappropriate for Germans to participate in the production of weapons which ultimately could be used to the disadvantage of the nation of Israel. This poses the questi…

To: Rabbi Jung. From: Sec. of Rabbi Lamm. This is the text of the telegram sent to German Ambassador Karl Hendrick Knappstein, German Consulate, 460 Park Ave., N.Y.C. (For your files). Most emphatically protest West Germany's surrender to Nasser blackmail. Your government is undoing all its previous efforts to restore your country to mankind's respect. Dr. Leo Jung, Norman Lamm, Rabbis of N.Y.C.

Dear Rabbi Lamm: As I mentioned to you today on the telephone, the fact that Tisho Be'Av falls this year on Shabbat and observance is transferred to Sunday, August 1, reminds me that almost the same date combination existed in 1914, when Tisho Be'Av fell on Shabbat, August 1, the first day of World War I. In its catastrophic consequences for all of European Jewry during the following 30 years, this was the most tragic and fatefull Tisho Be'Av since the destruction of the Temple. The drama surrounding Germany's declaration of war on that day — the Kaiser's extreme resistance and his repeated and frantic efforts to avoid starting the conflict — is vividly described in the enclosed pages from Guns of August and Fall of the Dynasties. If you are interested, I will gladly send you copies of these two books. I thought you would also like to read the enclosed pages from an article on the Lehrhaus in Frankfurt, which appeared in the Yavneh Review, and which mentions a prophetic vision of Richard Koch, one of Rosenzweig's closest associates. With warm personal regards, Cordially, Jakob Michael

Dear Rabbi Lamm: I invite you to join a small international group of experts as an ad hoc Commission on the Holocaust to advise the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture on its support for programs relating to the Holocaust. At the last annual meeting of the Memorial Foundation our Board of Trustees decided to establish this Commission to review and evaluate our existing programs of support, to identify gaps and needs in this area, and to recommend approaches, programs and projects which the Foundation should encourage and support. The Commission will also be asked to review and, if necessary, suggest revisions in Foundation policies, guidelines and procedures in order to maximize the impact and results of its support. Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler, of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations – and a member of our Board – has agreed to serve as Chairman. The first meeting of the Commission will take place on Sunday, March 9th, at the Union of American Hebrew Congregations building (838 Fifth Avenue – near 65th Street – New York City), and is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. This meeting will probably last all day. Background information and material will be made available to you in advance of the meeting. I very much hope that you will find it possible to accept membership on the Commission. Please let us know on the enclosed reply form if you will accept membership and if you will be able to attend the first meeting of the Commission. Best wishes. Sincerely yours, Nahum Goldmann

Dear Dr. Lamm: In accordance with our telephone conversation several days ago, I am writing to request that you prepare a two-three page memorandum for the forthcoming meeting of our Commission on the Holocaust. As you know, the Foundation has made education about the Holocaust a priority area for support this year and has initiated a program supporting the development of a model curriculum for Jewish schools. At the next meeting of the Commission we will be discussing the issue of Holocaust education in non-Jewish schools as well as programs for the transmission of the Holocaust experience through the medium of art and literature. It is important that there be some clarification in these programs about the balance in emphasis between the universal and the particularistic aspects of the Holocaust. The Commission would greatly benefit from a brief statement by you as to what the relative emphasis between these two areas would be, the specific subjects within each area that should be stressed (hopefully with some examples), and finally, the programmatic implications of your position as it affects education about, and transmission of, the Holocaust experience to both Jews and non-Jews. Your memorandum would be circulated prior to the meeting to the members of the Commission and you would be given time at the meeting to amplify your position. Many thanks for your anticipated cooperation. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Sincerely yours, Associate Executive Director JH:sf

I am grateful to you for sending me a copy of your new book, Metaphysical Drift: Love and Judaism. I read it through during the Pesach holiday and was absorbed by it. Since you solicit my reactions, let me tell you that I was gratified, angered, puzzled, piqued – all these, but also enlightened and instructed by your book. Because of the unusual combination of philosophical thinking and intimate, uninhibited autobiographical details, I feel that I know you personally more than I ever had before. While I did not at first quite understand your dichotomy between interestedness and intraestedness, in the course of reading I think – if you will excuse the pun as well as the adolescent lingo – I catch your drift. I sympathize with you and relish those rare moments of intraestedness, though I wonder if they warrant new nomenclature and such philosophical weight. I was somewhat taken aback at the passion of your protest against the rabbinic ideal that “all your actions should be for the sake of Heaven,” since the emotional intensity seems disproportionate and perhaps rooted in psychological rebellion against parental control. To me, that dictum is an inspiring agadic ideal rather than a stifling halakhah, and especially in its Hasidic interpretation it can unite all of life’s fragments into a meaningful whole without denying joy, freedom, or intraestedness. In your book, at times you impute to Judaism excessive control where I see little evidence of it, and yet I appreciate the honesty and integrity of your pathos-laden reflections. I especially value your trenchant comments on lishmah, though my address on the issue is secondary to Maimonides himself, and I must add that your occasional tone of faithlessness suggests not finality but a continuing, unfinished spiritual journey – one that I hope and pray will yet bring you back to your origins in a deeper and wiser form. Out of respect for you, your work, and your family, I extend my warm regards, together with thanks for a…

Dear [redacted], I am truly beholden to you for the gift copy brought by [redacted] of Reverence, Righteousness, and Rahamanut, edited by [redacted]. Please tell your good Rabbi that he has produced an excellent piece of work. You are quite right – it is an important volume of Jewish Americana, to which I shall have need to refer from time to time. Actually, the first study to which I turned was [redacted] and [redacted]’s “The Ninety-three Bais Yaakov Girls of Cracow: History or Typology?” It is a thoroughly researched study by two people who themselves have an extraordinary relationship ensuing from their family history during the Shoah. I know [redacted] and appreciate her learning. Although I do not know [redacted], I know of his many accomplishments. In this one case, however, I raised the question with [redacted]: why was it so necessary for them to do this essay? In a sense they answer the question in the last paragraph, leaving us off with the thought that the story could, or could not, have happened. From my own historical stance, I differentiate between legend as reality in history and legend as historical reality. From my Jewish emotional consciousness, I have lived in this instance over the years with [redacted]’s elegy, which is now incorporated in so many anthologies and which I regularly recite on Yom Kippur in the prayers. I enclose a copy in case it is not readily available to you. Indeed, from the wisdom one acquires from [redacted], the advice given him probably leads the rest, when he transmitted his life advice to the young [redacted]: “Never expect gratitude and you will never be unhappy.” I do not know whether [redacted] received gratitude from others during his remarkable ministry. Certainly [redacted], today, is the beneficiary of his great contributions to Jewish life, including, of course, the manner in which he leads Modern Orthodoxy in America. Please, then, when you see your respective Rabbis, give them my hearty Yasher Koach. As I wri…