Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm (1927–2020) was an American rabbi, scholar of Jewish thought and the third president of Yeshiva University. Born in Brooklyn, he studied at Torah Vodaath and then Yeshiva College, graduating with a chemistry degree in 1949. He subsequently chose a career in the rabbinate and teaching.
Teacher and institutional leader
He received rabbinical ordination at RIETS in 1951 and a doctorate in Jewish philosophy in 1966. Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik was his teacher. Lamm served congregations, including The Jewish Center in Manhattan, and taught Jewish philosophy.
He became president of Yeshiva University in 1976 and held that office until 2003. He then served as university chancellor and rosh yeshiva of RIETS until his retirement in 2013. His public work prominently expressed Torah Umadda: committed Torah learning in dialogue with scholarship and wider culture.
A written legacy
He founded Tradition and helped create other forums for the discussion of Jewish thought. His books and articles addressed prayer, faith, ethics and contemporary questions. The Religious Thought of Hasidism examines Hasidic religious thought.
A Hedge of Roses: Jewish Insights into Marriage and Married Life is especially relevant to this magazine’s themes. It examines the Jewish understanding of marriage and family purity; the National Library also catalogs it under mikveh and the religious life of Jewish families.
The official Lamm Heritage Archives preserves more than eight hundred digitized sermons, arranged by weekly Torah portion, festival and special address. It allows readers to encounter his original words rather than relying solely on later retellings of his ideas.
The author’s articles in our magazine
- Bordered by Lilies - Water - a Symbol of Life
- Hedged with Lilies - The Sanctity of Time
- Hedged with Lilies - Refining Sensuality
- Hedged with Lilies - Lasting Mutual Attraction
- Hedged with Lilies - The Importance of Family Purity Is Immeasurable
- Hedged with Lilies - Purification—a Spiritual Mystery
- Hedged with Lilies - Overcoming the Conflict
- Hedged with Lilies - Education for Life
- Hedged with Lilies - Introduction