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Once every four years, we celebrate those who have achieved rabbinic ordination—the future leadership of the Orthodox Jewish community

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Sunday, March 7, 2010 • 21 Adar 5770

Chag Hasemikhah Dinner 09

SPOTLIGHT ON...

Sion Setton
Semikhah student

Sion Setton thumbnailThe RIETS semikhah programs opened my eyes and broadened my horizons to things I otherwise would not have experienced. Our teachers are extremely loving and caring about our growth and success.

These meaningful relationships with rebbeim and classmates gave me the amazing opportunity to work in Ramaz and the Edmond J. Safra Synagogue. The social network at RIETS surpasses all expectations. The education we receive alters our lives and, I hope, will enhance those of our own children and students.

TORAH FROM RIETS

Hear shiurim by our peerless Roshei Yeshiva at YUTorah.org.

Torah and stained glass

RABBI DR. NORMAN LAMM

Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, Rosh HaYeshiva

Dr. Norman Lamm—distinguished rabbi, philosopher, teacher, and author—was elected President of Yeshiva University and Rosh HaYeshiva of RIETS in August 1976, succeeding Dr. Samuel Belkin and Dr. Bernard Revel. He was the University’s third president and the first native-born American to head the nation’s oldest and most comprehensive Jewish institution of higher learning and now serves as Chancellor of Yeshiva University.

Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1927, Dr. Lamm received his elementary and high school education at Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Vodaath. In 1945, he entered Yeshiva College, where he continued his Jewish learning and undertook a liberal arts program with a major in chemistry. He graduated summa cum laude in 1949 and was class valedictorian.

Upon graduation, Dr. Lamm pursued advanced scientific studies at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn while continuing his Judaic studies and rabbinic scholarship. He was ordained as a rabbi by Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in 1951, and earned a Ph.D. in Jewish philosophy from Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School in 1966.

During the seventeen years preceding his election as president, Dr. Lamm served on the Yeshiva University faculty, culminating in his appointment as the Erna and Jakob Michael Professor of Jewish Philosophy in 1966. A pulpit rabbi for twenty-five years, he served as spiritual leader of The Jewish Center in Manhattan, Congregation Kodimoh in Springfield, MA, and as assistant rabbi of New York City’s Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun.

Dr. Lamm has gained wide recognition for his writings and discourses on interpretation of Jewish philosophy and law, especially in relation to problems involving science, law, technology, and philosophy in the modern world. He has authored ten books, including The Religious Thought of Hasidism: Text and Commentary, which won the coveted 1999 Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought.

Rabbi Lamm has edited or co-edited over twenty volumes, including The Library of Jewish Law and Ethics. He was the founder and first editor of Tradition and associate editor of Hadarom, a journal of Jewish law, founder of the Torah U-Madda Journal, and founder of the Orthodox Forum.

Please visit the Lamm Heritage web portal—a virtual meeting-place for the ideas and scholarship of this distinguished rabbi, philosopher, teacher, and author—offering access to more than 800 of Dr. Lamm’s sermons in digitized form.