Norman Lamm

• Born: December 19, 1927
• Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
• Died: May 31, 2020
• Place of death: Englewood, New Jersey

Rabbi and religious leader

Lamm was an influential rabbi and religious leader who studied Modern Orthodox Judaism. He promoted unity among the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Jewish groups.

Area of achievement: Religion and theology

Early Life

Norman Lamm was born in 1927 in Brooklyn, New York, into a religious family that included Lamm’s grandfather, Rabbi Yeshoshua Baumol. Even as a child, Lamm excelled in religious studies. He attended Brooklyn’s Haredi Mesivta Torah Vodaath, a rabbinical school for Jewish studies. This yeshiva school was notable for its concentration on Haredi Judaism, the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism. Its beliefs and practices were based on the unbroken traditions that could be traced back to Moses.

When searching for a place of higher education, Lamm settled on Yeshiva College, which was part of Yeshiva University, in New York City. He did very well at Yeshiva and was even named the valedictorian of secular studies at his college. Lamm graduated from the school with a chemistry degree in 1949.

Lamm continued his scientific studies and attended the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn for postgraduate work. However, he was soon persuaded by the president of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Samuel Belkin, to look at a career in religious studies. Belkin talked Lamm into becoming a faculty member at Yeshiva. Lamm’s rabbinical studies were completed in 1951; he studied under Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, a Modern Orthodox scholar.

Life’s Work

After joining Yeshiva University’s faculty and becoming a rabbi, Lamm began a long and distinguished career in Jewish religious studies. He worked as a rabbi for a few New York Jewish centers, and he was elected president of Yeshiva University in 1976. Lamm’s term was especially important. He raised the endowment offered to the school and also helped improve the school’s academic performance.

Lamm spent his life practicing and encouraging Modern Orthodox Judaism, one of the most classical forms of the religion. Nevertheless, his well-known activities focused on promoting Jewish unity, despite the fact that he parted ways with some key aspects of Reform Judaism.

Lamm greatly disagreed with the belief that a person can be considered Jewish if his or her father was a Jew; tradition claims that lineage is passed on through the mother. Even though he did not back all the beliefs of the Reform Jews, Lamm still worked tirelessly to ensure that both Orthodox and Reform Jews continued to talk to each other. Lamm acknowledged the validity of non-Orthodox rabbis, even if he disagreed with their teachings.

These beliefs made headlines in the early 1990s when the prime minister of Israel, Yitzhak Shamir, consulted Lamm to help solve a feud over who could be considered a Jew. Lamm, despite his own beliefs, decided that maintaining a position of diplomacy and civility between the sides would be the best course of action. The eventual plan involved creating a panel that would analyze carefully those who wanted to become Jewish while maintaining strict rules. When the issue became important again in the late 1990s, Lamm was once again involved. He supported a group of Orthodox, Conservative, and Progressive rabbis who wanted to create a joint program for conversion to the Jewish faith.

Lamm left his post as president at Yeshiva University in 2001 and continued on as chancellor of the university. In 2012, a sexual abuse scandal involving two rabbis at Yeshiva University High School for Boys became public and disrupted Lamm's career. Lamm was criticized for his role in the scandal because, while he had made the rabbis leave Yeshiva, he had not reported the crime to the police and the men went on to commit abuse elsewhere. Lamm resigned from Yeshiva in 2013, which he explained was an act of atonement for his mishandling of the sex abuse scandal. On May 31, 2020, Lamm died at his daughter's home at the age of ninety-two.

Significance

Few rabbis can say they have done as much for Orthodox Judaism and Jewish unity as Lamm. Even as a devout Modern Orthodox Jew, Lamm still worked hard to ensure that all forms of Judaism, from Conservative to Orthodox to Reform, were unified around the world. His importance in ensuring this unity was recognized even by Israeli leader Shamir, when Lamm was consulted about issues regarding Judaism in the 1990s. Lamm continued to write about his beliefs and his experiences, and he continued his contribution to the work of Yeshiva University until his resignation in 2013.

Bibliography

Berenbaum, Michael. “Bridging the Gap.” The Jewish Journal, December 12, 2002. Article about the selection of a new president for Yeshiva University discusses Lamm’s tenure and his skillful leadership.

Berger, Joseph. "Norman Lamm, 92, Dies; Rescued Yeshiva U. from Brink of Bankruptcy." The New York Times, 31 May 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/obituaries/Norman-Lamm-Dead.html. Accessed 13 Nov. 2020.

Lamm, Norman. A Hedge of Roses. New York: Feldheim, 1980. This book explores Jewish marriage and married life from the perspective of Orthodox Jewish laws as per Norman’s account.

Lamm, Norman. The Royal Table: A Passover Haggadah. Jersey City, N.J.: Ktav, 2010. One of Lamm’s works about the Passover Haggadah, one of the most important Jewish liturgical books, and its importance for the Jewish community and especially Jewish families. This book includes the text of the Haggadah and commentary from Lamm.

Lamm, Norman. The Shema: Spirituality and Law in Judaism. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 2000. Commentary by Norman about the Shema, an important prayer in Judaism. Norman gives his views about the prayer in this edition.

Lamm, Norman. Torah Umadda: The Encounter of Religious Learning and Worldly Knowledge in the Jewish Tradition. New York: Jason Aronson, 1994. An examination of Jewish religious studies in relation to science and the secular world.