On January 6, 1955, my father-in-law, Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, z”l, delivered a sermon titled “How to Raise a Moses.” In it, he considers what it takes to raise children who embody greatness: “[W]hat do we need to do to deserve great children—not just-well adjusted children who will follow the lead of everyone else, not just children who will be colorlessly ‘normal,’ who will never rise higher than the pitifully low average and remain happy in their ignorance and commonness—but children who will serve and inspire and lead and achieve for a whole people and a whole world?”
Using the example of Moshe and his parents, Amram and Yocheved, Rabbi Lamm discusses parental qualities which position children to be leaders. He concludes that “it is within the power of each and every one of us to raise a Moses,” that “a parent can develop a child who will reflect the worth and value and strength of an entire people.”
And yet there is a salient point that Rabbi Lamm makes but does not state—that outstanding children are testaments to outstanding parents and grandparents, and that the apple falls not far from the tree. And I wonder if as he spoke those words as a young rabbi in 1955, Rabbi Lamm could have ever imagined how truly those words would reflect his own legacy.
Tamar Warburg is someone who my in-laws uniquely cherished. Perhaps because they saw in her so many of the qualities that they themselves embodied: decency, integrity, courage, strength, independence and leadership. And those were not simply qualities that Tamar naturally inherited, but products of Rabbi and Mrs. Lamm’s constant love, devotion and intention. Everything she is and has become is a tribute to them.
It is in that sense that I write with deep personal pride and excitement to support Tamar in her historic candidacy for the New Jersey General Assembly. If elected, Tamar will be the first Orthodox Jewish woman ever elected to New Jersey’s legislature, and I know that she will be a wonderful advocate for our community in that position.
The mantle of communal leadership is a heavy one to carry—in every way. Yet Tamar has seen the torch carried, and she is a fitting choice to carry it forward in her generation.
