NEW YORK In his letter announcing he was stepping down as Yeshiva Universitys chancellor and rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Norman Lamm reviewed his five decades teaching at and leading Yeshiva Univiversty, building it into a bastion of Orthodox Judaism and secular scholarship.
Rabbi Lamms decision to retire is based on an agreement that was reached three years ago, the university said in a statement. His contract expired June 30.
Lamm, now 85, became the schools third president and head of its rabbinic school, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, in 1976, after a long teaching career at YU and rabbinical career at the Jewish Center in Manhattan.
He stepped down as president of YU in 2003, becoming chancellor, but stayed on as the head of RIETS. In the past decade, RIETS continued to grow in the number of rabbinical graduates, and in quality.
At the same time, Rabbi Lamm faced competition from the founding of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah by a YU graduate, Rabbi Avi Weiss.
During his tenure at YU, Rabbi Lamm published many books, focusing on the thought of the founder of the first modern yeshiva, Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, the successor of the Vilna Gaon; on the Hasidic movement; on Torah u-Maddah, the slogan of YU, Torah and Science; and on Biblical books and Jewish theology.
One of his artices was cited in a US Supreme Court decision.
In 1958, Lamm founded Tradition, the scholarly journal of the Rabbinical Council of America, and became its first editor.
He headed the Religious Zionists of America (RZA).
His tenure as the president of YU began with his strenuous efforts to save the institution from bankruptcy. He successfuly brought a case all the way to the US Supreme Court to save the university from what it regarded as excessive union costs.
Rabbi Lamm added Cardozo Law School to its many graduate schools founded by his predecessor, Dr. Samuel Belkin; and expanded undergraduate enrollment substantially.
LAMMS tenure was marked by some controversies, including his tolerance of homosexual undergraduate clubs and his successful legal defense of university policy against homosexual housing.
In his letter announcing his resignation, Lamm acknowledged his failure to respond adequately to allegations of sexual abuse against two YU rabbis in the 1980s.
Earlier this year, a Forward newspaper report detailed allegations of abuse dating back to the 1970s and 80s against two rabbis at YUs high school for boys, principal George Finkelstein and Talmud teacher Macy Gordon.
Last December, Lamm acknowledged to the Forward that he knew about some of the allegations but chose to deal with them privately; law enforcement authorities were not informed.
My question was not whether to report to police but to ask the person to leave the job, Lamm said.
On Monday, Lamm issued a mea culpa.
At the time that inappropriate actions by individuals at Yeshiva were brought to my attention, I acted in a way that I thought was correct, but which now seems ill conceived, Lamm wrote in the letter emailed to faculty, students and alumni in which he discussed his retirement.
And when that happens one must do teshuvah. So, I too must do teshuvah [repentance].
We must never be so committed to justifying our past that we thereby threaten to destroy our future. It is not an easy task. On the contrary, it is one of the greatest trials of all, for it means sacrificing our very egos, our reputations, even our identities, he wrote.
But we can and must do it. I must do it, and having done so, contribute to the creation of a future that is safer for innocents, and more ethically and halachically correct.
True character requires of me the courage to admit that, despite my best intentions then, I now recognize that I was wrong, Lamm wrote. This is what I am modeh [acknowledge] as I reflect on my tenure.
Finkelstein was forced out of the school in 1995 after being accused of inappropriate contact with students by wrestling with them. He went to work as a dean at the Hillel Community Day School in North Miami Beach, Fla.
Gordon was placed on a leave of absence in 1984, according to the Forward.
Both rabbis now live in Israel.
LAMMS comments about the sexual abuse allegations represented four paragraphs of a six-page resignation letter that otherwise was a reflection on his tenure at YU.
Lamm also made an oblique reference to his failing health, noting, Conditions have caused me to rely on help from my family in writing this letter.
Richard Joel, the president of YU, declined to discuss Lamms remarks on the sexual allegations or be interviewed for this story. He released a statement to JTA through a spokesman.
I would like to express my appreciation to Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm for his half-century of service to Yeshiva University. During his tenure he helped guide the University with steadfastness and vision, Joel said in the statement.
Dr. Lamms contributions to the Jewish world as a distinguished rabbi, philosopher and scholar are unparalleled.
In its report last fall, the Forward cited three former students who said Finkelstein invited students into his home or office to wrestle with them, that they could feel his erect organ against them during the tussling, and that Finkelstein told the students he loved them and tried to kiss some of them.
Everyone at the school knew of Finkelsteins penchant for wrestling with boys, the former students said.
Finkelstein denied to the Forward that there was anything sexual about his contact with students, though he said the wrestling, in retrospect, was wrong.
Gordon was accused of sodomizing a former student with a toothbrush when the student was 16. The former student and his father both told the Forward that they reported the incident to YUs leadership but not to the police because they did not want to damage the schools reputation or further harm the boy.
Gordon told the Forward he had no recollection of the toothbrush incident and said he had not conducted himself inappropriately.
The IJN contributed to this article.
Copyright © 2013 by the Intermountain Jewish News
