Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor : 17 Historical Photos and Norman Lamm Quits Yeshiva Univ.,

Practicing Foresight

Neglecting to look ahead is a prime cause of unhappiness. One who overeats disparages the value of food. A quarrelsome man complains against the blessings of marriage, relatives and neighbors. By practicing foresight, many evils can be avoided

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Samuel Reshevsky, age 8, defeating several chess masters at once in France , 1920

The last known picture of Adolf Hitler, April 30, 1945

Eisenhower's Inauguration on January 20, 1953

Nazi rally in the Cathedral of Light c. 1937

Marilyn Monroe performing for troops stationed in Korea, February 1954

The last known picture of Albert Einstein, taken in March, 1955

Mugshot of Joseph Stalin held by Okharna: the Tsarist Secret Police, 1911

One of the first photos that was taken inside of Hitler's bunker (Führerbunker) in 1945 by Allied soldiers

Hindenburg over Manhattan on May 6, 1937, hours before disaster

Before alarm clocks there were knocker-upper's. Mary Smith earned sixpence a week shooting dried peas at sleeping workers windows. Limehouse Fields. London

On this day, seventy-nine years ago, citizens in a bar celebrate the end of alcohol prohibition in the United States . December 5, 1933

A Native American looks down at a newly-completed section of the transcontinental railroad. Nevada , about 1868

Wedding. Egypt – 1923

Liberated Jewish man holds NAZI soldier at gunpoint during WWII

NYC Grand Central Station, 1929. The sun can't shine through like that now because of taller buildings

Louis Armstrong plays for his wife in front of the Sphinx by the pyramids in Giza, 1961

Two Civil War veterans from both sides shake hands at Gettysburg -1913

Norman Lamm Quits Yeshiva Univ., Admits Failure on Sex Abuse

Rabbi Norman Lamm became president of Yeshiva U. in 1976 , helped save it from bankruptcy and raised its academic standing, At 85, he admits he must do tshvuah over a sex abuse scandal and is retiring.

By: JTA

Published: July 1st, 2013

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Rabbi Norman Lamm has quit as rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva U., where he admits he did not handle properly a sex abuse scandal
In a letter announcing he is stepping down as Yeshiva University's chancellor and rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Norman Lamm acknowledged his failure to respond adequately to allegations of sexual abuse against the university's rabbis in the 1980s.
Lamm, now 85, became the school's third president and head of its rabbinic school, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, in 1976. He stepped down as president in 2003, becoming chancellor, but stayed on as RIETS's head.
His resignation Monday from his two posts at the school were attributed to an agreement reached three years ago and come several months after a report in the Forward newspaper that detailed allegations of abuse dating back to the 1970s and '80s against two rabbis at Y.U.'s high school for boys, principal George Finkelstein and Talmud teacher Macy Gordon.
"Rabbi Lamm's 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."
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 never 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 for failing to pursue the allegations.
"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 a letter emailed to faculty, students and alumni in which he discussed his retirement. "And when that happens — one must do tshuvah. So, I too must do tshuvah [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 halakhically 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 then 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 of the rabbis now live in Israel.
Lamm's comments about the sexual abuse allegations represented four paragraphs of a six-page resignation letter that otherwise was a reflection on his tenure at Y.U. 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 Y.U., declined to discuss Lamm's 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. Lamm's 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 penis against them during the tussling, and that Finkelstein told the students he loved them and tried to kiss some of them. Everybody at the school knew of Finkelstein's 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 Y.U.'s leadership but did not report it to the police because they did not want to damage the school's 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.