My mother, whose family was heavily rabbinic, said she wanted me to continue the family tradition in the rabbinate. My father said he wanted me to be a scholar of the Talmud, but he wanted me to make my living in science.

Lamm's grandfather was Rabbi Yeshoshua Baumol (1880–1948) who authored the Responsa - Emek Halakha. It is this kind of position which honest men particularly honest believers in God and Torah must adopt at all times and especially in our times.

He holds a Ph. Norman (Nachum) Lamm (born December 19 1927 in Brooklyn New York United States) is a major American Modern Orthodox rabbi scholar author and Jewish communal leader. He is the Chancellor of Yeshiva University.