The departing President charged newly installed Chairman of the Board Robert M. Beren with the task of appointing an international search committee to secure a successor to serve as President of Yeshiva University and President of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.  Unconfirmed reports allege that the trustees subsequently voted to anoint Lamm University Chancellor upon his departure from Yeshiva.  The move will mark the dawn of a new position at the university, the uniqueness of which might be attributed to the one other exceptional circumstance of this transfer of leadership at Yeshiva.  “This is the first time,” explained Special Assistant to the President Jeffrey Gurock, “that an outgoing President [of Yeshiva] will be around [after his retirement].”  With the obvious uncertainty that accompanies the creation of this new post, Gurock confidently asserted that “the Dr. Lamm era is not over yet… He’ll be retiring, but he will continue to be around.”

The Announcement
The Board of Trustees had convened for what many believed to be a routine meeting late Tuesday afternoon on Yeshiva’s midtown campus.  Following the conference, a commemorative dinner celebrating the President’s 25th year in office was scheduled to take place in the E. Billi Ivry Student Center, at which Dr. Lamm was slated to deliver the keynote address and be presented with a special Proclamation in honor of the momentous occasion.  It was during these remarks that he publicly spoke of his decision to the small gathering of trustees, detailing the bittersweet nature of the moment at which his stay at Yeshiva was being so cordially celebrated, but his departure from the institution was being so solemnly announced.

Reserving more lengthy remarks for upcoming events at which broader groups of supporters, including his children, would be in attendance, Lamm singled out the service of a select group of administrators and trustees to whom he attributed the unparalleled growth and success of Yeshiva.  From long-time friend and recently retired Vice President of RIETS Rabbi Robert S. Hirt to the attendees’ newest member of the Yeshiva family, Director of Public Relations Peter L. Ferrara, Lamm pronounced an extreme optimism about their ability to lead the University in the coming years and offered his sincere thanks for their assistance throughout the quarter of a century that his administration has spanned.  As he concluded his acclamation of the select individuals, he paid special appreciation to administrative assistant Gladys Cherny, recounting a pact that the two had reached during their very first days together at Yeshiva.  Cherny nodded her head with enthusiasm as Lamm recalled their having contracted an agreement proclaiming that either of the two’s decision to leave Yeshiva would amount to the departure of the other as well.

The retirement announcement came as a shock to many, including insiders within the Yeshiva community, who were unaware that the President was considering imminent retirement.  “I am beyond surprised,” said one insider, “but after I overcome that emotion, this will become all the more tangible.”

The vital seventy-three year old President will be leaving behind a legacy that has spanned decades of Yeshiva progress, dismay, and prosperity.  Even during his short, twenty-minute Tuesday evening address, Lamm proudly detailed the financial crisis that had left Yeshiva within hours of shutting down and the miraculous recovery that he attributed in no small part to Vice President for Business Affairs Dr. Sheldon Socol.  Returning from the podium to a standing ovation and a crowd of friends eager to embrace the outgoing President, a feeling of optimism permeated the room.

Commentator sources have revealed that Dr. Lamm will meet tomorrow with the Roshei HaYeshiva to inform them of the significant revelation.

The role that President Lamm played in advancing Yeshiva’s ascent following the crisis, seeing Yeshiva’s endowment grow to more than three times its 1970s numbers, and doubling as recently as the past five years, has left many wondering what effect his departure will have on the University.  In addition to Lamm’s own words reiterating the strength of Yeshiva, an institution that Lamm deemed the “cradle of Torah U’Madda,” to surge in the coming years, the steadfast attitude of Chairman Beren confirmed the feeling.  “The University is the world center of modern Orthodoxy and that’s where we intend to stay,” he exclaimed.

Reaction from Jewish Leaders
As the news continues to break, leaders of the orthodox Jewish community at large have expressed mixed reaction to the announcement when questioned by The Commentator.  Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, whose name graces the face of an insiders’ short list for Lamm’s replacement, expressed his “enormous respect for Rabbi Lamm.  He led Yeshiva with majesty and success for many years, ” explained Riskin.  He concluded by asserting his “hope [that] whatever happens in the next sixteen months, he will still maintain a close relationship and advisory role with Yeshiva University.”

Chief Rabbi of Great Britain Jonathan Sacks, around whom rumors of possibly succeeding Lamm are also circulating, agreed that it is “rare that we find someone who embodies both scholarship and leadership.  He [Lamm] stood for a position within orthodoxy that has been a lonely one – a tolerant one.”  He sums it up – “It demanded courage.”

Israel Singer, Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress, paid tribute to the retiring leader as well.  “In a world evacuated of intellectualism, he was an intellectual.  In a world evacuated of Torah scholarship, he was a talmid chacham.  In a world evacuated of leadership, he was a leader of centrist orthodoxy.  The question remains, do all these things add up to a leader of modern orthodoxy.  Rabbi Lamm had the capabilities of being such a leader, and he could still achieve that goal.  However, he chose to devote his resources to building YU. Yeshiva is the main pulpit of the Jewish people.  Rabbi Lamm built it masterfully, and now its waiting for someone to fill it.