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Speech

November 7, 1976

Yeshiva University Investiture of Rabbi Doctor Norman Lamm 11/7/1976

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Speech

A Look Back... Dr. Norman Lamm's Presidential Investiture Address (2003)

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Boards of Yeshiva University, distinguished guests of the academic community, fellow members of our faculties, my revered teachers, worthy rabbis, my dear family, students, alumni, and friends of Yeshiva University.I am deeply moved by you who have assembled to join me in this ceremony of investiture as president of Yeshiva University. It is on this very platform that I received my doctorate ten years ago. Even more am I honored by the confidence placed in me by the trustees in entrusting to me the destiny of this great citadel of learning, which nurtured me spiritually and intellectually from the time I was 18 years old.However, this investment is tempered by two factors: first, I fully realize that it is not I but Yeshiva University which is being honored by you at this occasion. It is Yeshiva to which you, and I, express our gratitude for 91 years of unexcelled academic and communal leadership.Second, I feel humble indeed to have been summoned to follow two of the most innovative and gifted spiritual leaders in the history of the American Jewish community — Dr. Bernard Revel, of blessed memory, the first president of Yeshiva University, and his successor and my immediate predecessor and teacher. Dr. Samuel Belkin, may he rest in peace. I revered Dr. Belkin as an inspired teacher; I loved him as a man, as a friend, as a mentor. His giant mantle feels all too large on these narrow shoulders.Nevertheless, I am mindful of the saying of an ancient sage, "(What the great) Samuel (was) in his generation, (the lesser) Jephtah (was) in his generation." I know that I cannot equal my predecessors. I pray only that I may prove to be of as much service to my generation as they were to theirs.I suppose that every speech produces its own Weltschmerz and issues its own solemn jeremiads. Yet it is undeniable that depression and gloom and foreboding seem to be the hallmarks of our particular time. We are the generation of Vietnam and Watergate. Econom…
Yeshiva University Biographical Material

Article

Dr. Norman Lamm Assumes Presidency of YU; Selection Culminates an Exhaustive Search (1976)

Trustees’ Selection Of Lamm Ends Search Committee Role: The naming of Dr. Norman Lamm as the third President of Yeshiva University culminated a long and difficult process of selection by the Presidential Search Committee, headed by EMC Dean Jacob Rabinowitz. During, the eight-month search, the fifty-member committee screened fifty-seven nominees before submitting its recommendations to the YU Board of Turstees.. These recommendations led to the Board’s unanimous selection of Dr. Lamm.The fifty members of the Com-mittee represented the various un- dergraduate and graduate divisions of the university, and outsiders chosen to present perspectives on the needs of the university in the area of communal services. A smaller fifteen member work com- mittee, chosen from the full Search Committee, undertook the difficult task of advising and setting guidelines for the main committee.To profile the president Yeshiva needed, the work committee pre- sented the full committee with a list . of thirty-five possible quali- fications for a YU president and asked the members of the full committee to signify the im- portance which they accorded each by ranking each on an “A" to “F” scale. “A” represented absolutely essential qualifications, and “F” represented those of no import- ance. Although the thirty-five-item list included such criteria as scholarship, academic position, and contacts in the Jewish and sec- ular world, over ninety percent of the committee’s members designat- ed dedication to academic excel- lence, concern for the religious cen- trality and tradition in the Univer- sity, leadership qualities, and sen- sitivity to moral issues as either ab-solutely necessary or extremely im- portant qualifications.״Fund rais- ing, interestingly, was not con- sidered to be of major significance.Rabbi Rabinowitz stressed the fact that the Board of Trustees took no part in the selection until they received the committee’s recom- mendations on June 30. He said that, “At no time did the…
Yeshiva University Biographical Material

Article

Dr. Norman Lamm is Third President of YU (1976)

Wednesday, August 4, 9 a.m. The President's Suite on the fifth floor of Furst Hall came to life. A vibrancy of actions, motion, ringing phones, footsteps reverberated through the hallways, sending waves of movement and energy throughout the YU complex. Dr. Norman Lamm, 48 years old. American born, alumnus, moved into his post as third President of Yeshiva University. Major changes in any institution just don't happen overnight: months of planning, days and nights of work, and countless hours of effort went into choosing a new chief executive officer and pre­paring for his taking office.On July 13 the Presidential Search Committee delivered its report to the Board of Trustees as charged. On August 3 the Board’s Presidential Search Committee in turn reviewed the University­wide Committee's recommendation at a special meeting. After its approval, the full Board voted unanimously to elect Dr. Lamm President."Yeshiva University, with its 7,000 students, needs the vigor of mind and spirit of Dr. Lamm,” said Max J. Etra, chairman of the Board of Trustees, in making the announcement. "Of the people under serious consideration, all men of achievement, intellect, and accomplishment, the Committee leaned towards a younger, dynamic leader who would provide long term leadership for the institution and who would be able to confront the pressing problems of higher education today."We enter our tenth decade with the conviction that with the help of the Almighty our new President will continue in the great tradition of his distinguished predecessors, Drs. Bernard Revel and Samuel Belkin, and guide the University to new heights of service and excellence," Mr. Etra said.Introducing Dr. LammDr. Norman Lamm brings to office the vigor of Jewish tradition nurtured in American soil and a sensitivity to YU's strengths and needs gained as analumnus and faculty member. He combines a profound scholarship in Torah, philosophy, arts, humanities, and sciences — as a chemist turned rabbi — with t…
Yeshiva University Biographical Material