In Defense of Rabbi Lamm

To the Editor:

The Commentator has printed two lengthy defenses of Rabbi Svei’s attack on Rabbi Lamm. Non-students, who used the letters to the editor as an opportunity to criticize Modern Orthodoxy, wrote both. It is unfortunate that this incident has become reduced to merely one aspect of an assumed struggle for dominance in the Orthodox community.

I heard the talk by Rabbi Lamm and have carefully read the printed version. He quoted the Talmud (Shabbat 33B) which described what occurred when Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son left the cave where they had studied Torah while fleeing from the Roman authorities. The command to return to the cave was issued by a divine voice. Rabbi Lamm used this story to promote a vision of Orthodoxy that interacts with the outside world. Only one who assumed that Rabbi Lamm is an enemy of the "Yeshiva world" could read in his choice of image, which was that of the Talmudic story, an attack on those who learn Torah full time.

Rabbeinu Yonah describes an individual who, while personally observant, demonstrates a hatred for fully committed Jews. He considers such a person a hater of Hashem as well. Assigning such an epithet to a live person would require knowledge of that individual’s inner feelings and motivations. One who has publicly attacked Rabbi Lamm, Yeshiva University and its philosophy is hardly the right choice to make that judgment. The decision to have Rabbi Lamm sit on the dais at the Siyum Hashas indicates that the majority of Roshei Yeshiva did not share this misreading of his speech.

Sincerely yours,

Rabbi Yosef Blau