35 Facts About Norman Lamm

Norman Lamm was an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, scholar, academic administrator, author, and Jewish community leader.

Norman Lamm was the Chancellor of Yeshiva University until he announced his retirement on July 1,2013.

Norman Lamm was a disciple of Rabbi Joseph B Soloveitchik, who ordained him at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University's rabbinical school in 1951.

Norman Lamm was one of four siblings and grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Norman Lamm attended Yeshiva College, the men's undergraduate school of Yeshiva University, and obtained a degree in chemistry in 1949 before working in a clandestine laboratory in upstate New York developing munitions for the newborn State of Israel.

Norman Lamm was the secular studies valedictorian of his graduating class.

Norman Lamm took graduate courses at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.

Norman Lamm considered a career in medicine but was persuaded by Rabbi Dr Samuel Belkin, the second President of Yeshiva University, to join the faculty at Yeshiva University.

In that work, Baumol cited several insights from the then-young Norman Lamm and responded to his questions.

Norman Lamm was the Assistant Rabbi to Rabbi Joseph Lookstein of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan, New York.

Norman Lamm was appointed rabbi of the West Side Jewish Center in 1952; became an assistant rabbi at the Jewish Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1958; and then the senior rabbi of the Jewish Center from 1959 to 1976.

In 1958, Norman Lamm helped founded Tradition, an academic journal of Modern Orthodox thought.

At a time when ArtScroll was in financial trouble, Norman Lamm introduced the publisher to philanthropist Jerome Schottenstein.

Norman Lamm was married to Mindella, who died of COVID-19 on April 16,2020, at the age of 88.

At the time of his death in May 2020, Norman Lamm had two sons, Shalom and Joshua, and a daughter, Chaye Warburg.

Norman Lamm had a second daughter, Sara Lamm Dratch, who died in 2013.

Norman Lamm was survived by 17 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

Norman Lamm believed that God exists, that God can reveal his will to mankind, and that the Torah is an exact transcription of God's revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai.

Norman Lamm believed that Judaism's oral law, as recorded in the Mishnah and Talmud and subsequent rabbinical interpretation, represents an accurate and authoritative understanding of how God wants mankind to understand the Hebrew Bible.

Norman Lamm argued that the underlying philosophy of Torah Umadda is inspired by the work of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch in the mid 19th century in response to the Enlightenment.

Norman Lamm was a strong critic of Reform Judaism's attempt to unilaterally redefine Jewishness.

Norman Lamm was a proponent of working with Reform and Conservative Judaism in the now-defunct Synagogue Council of America.

Norman Lamm devised a solution for the denominational crisis which required delicate diplomacy as well as goodwill on all sides.

Norman Lamm wanted this to be only the beginning of a solution to Jewish disunity.

Norman Lamm stated that had this unified conversion plan not been destroyed, he wanted to extend this program to the area of halakhic Jewish divorces, thus ending the problem of mamzerut.

Norman Lamm denies that non-Orthodox Jews have halakhic legitimacy, explaining that their views on halakha do not have normative status.

Norman Lamm holds that marriages that are officiated at by non-Orthodox Jews can be halakhically-valid if conducted in accordance with Jewish law, but not so non-Orthodox divorces.

Originally trained as a scientist, Norman Lamm maintained an interest in the interface between science and Judaism.

Norman Lamm was the author of 10 books, and edited or co-edited over 20 volumes.

In 1971 Norman Lamm wrote Faith and Doubt: Studies in Traditional Jewish Thought, which was released in a second edition in 1986 and a third and up-dated edition in 2006.

Influences on Norman Lamm came from both camps, with Rav Soloveitchik descended from Hayim Volozhin, main Mitnagdic theorist, who is compared with Hasidism's theorist Schneur Zalman of Liadi.

In 2000 Norman Lamm wrote The Shema: Spirituality and Law in Judaism for a general audience not familiar with Jewish theology; this work focused on how a proper understanding of Judaism would lead a practitioner to spirituality.

Norman Lamm stepped down as president in 2003, and was succeeded by Richard Joel, who became the fourth President of Yeshiva University and the first layman to hold the office.

Norman Lamm maintained his title as Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva University's rabbinical school, RIETS for an additional ten years.

Norman Lamm died on May 31,2020, in Englewood, New Jersey.