Dr. Norman Lamm and former
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, keynote
speaker at convocation. |
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
The Day a Nobody
Became President
By Tim Boxer
 ORMAN
LAMM was introduced so magnanimously at Yeshiva University’s
Hannukah dinner and convocation at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York,
that he remarked to board chairman Robert Beren, “I wonder
if you would repeat those words to my wife.”
There was much love in the Waldorf-Astoria’s
grand ballroom, not only from his wife but also from the 1,100
guests gathered for what was presumably Dr. Lamm’s last appearance
at the annual event.
Lamm, who is retiring in June after 25 years as
university president, recalled his first day on the job. He wanted
to mingle with his constituency, so he went to the dining room.
There were three prices for students, faculty and outsiders.
He brought his tray to the cashier who asked,
“Are you a student?”
No.
“Are you faculty?”
No.
“Are you an outsider?”
No.
“So you’re a nobody.”
When people ask him what he’ll do in
retirement, Lamm answers with a quote from the Kotzker Rebbe who
said, “I have met many people who were long dead, but didn’t
realize it.”
“I hope not to die before I am dead,” Lamm
said.
Lamm, who will become YU chancellor, said
he’ll keep busy learning Latin, Greek, the classics and learning
wisdom from his grandchildren.
Recalling what Gen. Douglas MacArthur
said – “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away” – Lamm
said, “Old presidents never die, they just lose their
faculties.”
|
