NEW YORK
Jewish Daily Forward
Editorial
True character, the man wrote, requires the courage to admit that, despite one’s best intentions, “I now recognize that I was wrong.” Imagine if every leader had the strength and the humility to write those words and to believe them, to acknowledge a mistake plainly and publicly, without embellishment or justification. Imagine if leaders simply apologized and took full responsibility for their mistakes, not as a calculated step toward vindication and further advancement, but because it was the right thing to do.
Norman Lamm’s July 1 letter announcing his retirement as chancellor of Yeshiva University contained that heartfelt admission and, by doing so, added back some luster to a legacy sadly tarnished by the abuse scandal that occurred at Modern Orthodoxy’s flagship educational institution under his watch. Ever since the Forward broke the news that former staff members at Y.U.’s Manhattan High School for Boys sexually abused students, Lamm struck us as the most honest of the school’s leaders. His letter confirms that impression.
His humble words stand in stark contrast to the current leaderhip’s refusal to independently investigate the abuse charges and commit to publicly report the findings. Lamm’s admission cannot substitute for a full accounting by his successor.
It can and should, however, pave the way. In an interview with our Paul Berger last December, Lamm acknowledged that during his long tenure as Y.U. president (from 1976 to 2003), he knew of abuse allegations against members of his staff and concluded that it was best to let the abusers quietly leave instead of reporting them to the authorities. Both of the alleged abusers named by the Forward went on to work at other Jewish institutions in the United States and Israel for years, until the initial story was published. Y.U., meantime, under Lamm and successor Richard Joel, declined to respond to the pleas of student victims to address the abuse.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.