Emory Report

September 11, 2000

Volume 53, No. 3

Lipstadt, Lamm reflect on the Holocaust By Elaine Justice Deborah Lipstadt, who returns to the Emory College classroom this fall after winning a highly publicized libel suit involving her book, Denying the Holo-caust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, will be the featured speaker along with Rabbi Norman Lamm, president of Yeshiva University, in a public conversation titled "Holocaust Denial: Theological Reflections," at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, in the law school's Tull Auditorium. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies and director of Institute for Jewish Studies, was the winner last spring in a British libel trial. British author David Irving sued Lipstadt for calling him a "Holocaust denier" in her book. The trial generated international media coverage that has brought discussions on the nature of history and truth to the forefront of public consciousness. The discussion will include Lipstadt's thoughts on religious history and truth. Lamm will respond to her remarks and offer his own thoughts on Holocaust denial. A distinguished rabbi, philosopher, teacher and author, Lamm was elected the third president of Yeshiva University in 1976 and is the first native-born American to head the institution. He has gained wide recognition for his writings on Jewish philosophy and law in relation to science, technology and philosophy in the modern world. Lamm's major work, Torah Lishmah, published in 1972 and updated in 1989, deals with the religious philosophy of the Hasidim and their opponents, the Mitnaggedim, in the 18th and 19th centuries. Lamm's writings also have been cited in two landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions: the 1966 Miranda decision regarding police interrogation of suspects held in custody; and a 1967 case involving guarantees against self-incrimination. Return to September 11, 2000 contents page