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NEW JERSEY JEWISH NEWS
G R E AT E R M E T R O W E S T E D I T I O N A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E J E W I S H W E E K M E D I A G R O U P Vol. LXX IV No. 23 | June 4, 2020 | 12 S IVAN 5780
njj ew is hnews . c o m
In-person prayer to return … for some Several Orthodox synagogues to hold limited services outdoors Johanna Ginsberg NJJN Senior Writer
Battling Covid: Innovation and Uncertainty Israel Now: Special Section
Rabbi Norman Lamm, 92, former president of Yeshiva University, died May 31 of natural causes.
‘Architect of Modern Orthodoxy,’ Norman Lamm succumbs at 92 The rabbi, author, and administrator saved Yeshiva University while seeking a synthesis of Torah and contemporary culture Steve Lipman Special to NJJN
Remembering the generous spirit of Lois Lautenberg (at right) State & Local 4
State & Local 4 Opinion 11 Calendar/Community 14 LifeCycle 15 Touch of Torah 20 Exit Ramp 23
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or several years a couple dozen widows of supporters of Yeshiva University (YU) and other isolated members of the school’s community would receive a phone call on Friday afternoon. The caller would ask about the people’s health, their family, discuss university events, and wish the people a Shabbat shalom. The caller was Rabbi Norman Lamm, the university’s president. The calls, partly pastoral, partly a way to keep in touch with contributors to the university, were an unpublicized facet of Lamm,
who died May 31, 2020, at 92 of natural causes. Lamm, who served as the third president of the school, from 1976 to 2003, succeeding Dr. Samuel Belkin, was remembered this week as a combination of Torah scholar, administrator, and fundraiser, who both saved the Modern Orthodox movement’s flagship institution from the brink of bankruptcy, and improved the movement’s standing in the wider Jewish and non-Jewish world. During his tenure at the school, he bolstered its academic standards, with YU now ranked among the country’s top university’s in many national listings. “It could not have been done without Rabbi Lamm,” Richard Parkoff, a real estate investor who has been a financial supporter of the school for several decades, told NJJN. Lamm was “both an architect of and a spokesman for Modern
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n the afternoon of June 1, Mike Cumberton, a maintenance worker at Synagogue of the Suburban Torah Center in Livingston, was using bright orange spray paint to draw squares on the parking lot pavement behind the synagogue. The 40 squares, each carefully measured six feet apart, will serve as the Modern Orthodox congregation’s new outdoor “sanctuary” for its daily minyan, set to restart on June 4. Worshippers (no more than 25 for now, per current New Jersey guidelines) will have to wear masks and stay in their respective square for the duration of the service. Swaying while praying is okay, but three steps forward and back for the Amidah? Only if you can stay in your square, according to Rabbi Elie Mischel. Being the decision-maker on this issue has weighed heavily on Mischel. He hears from people who have wanted to open sooner and understands their perspective, but “they’re not the ones with the responsibility, and they don’t have it on their heads if, God forbid, somebody gets sick,” he told NJJN during a phone interview. Mischel also worries that congregants will inadvertently get too close to each other. “People forget. They’re good people, and they want to follow the rules, but then they’re not six feet away from each other, and the mask slips off their nose and it’s not OK,” he said. “Taking the community perspective has made me a little more humble and much more careful.” The Vaad Harabonim of MetroWest NJ announced on May 26 that synagogues affiliated with the organization — provided they adhere to strict guidelines enacted to prevent the further spread of Covid-19 — could resume holding limited prayer services on June 4. Their decision closely follows the framework of the May 8 guidelines issued jointly
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