traditional material, but that was never demonstrated. There was a responsum by Samuel Cohon ’s on"Marriage with a Brother's Widow(1925). Samuel Cohon (1888-1976) was professor of theology at the Hebrew Union College with a major interest in liturgy which he demonstrated through editing the Union Haggadah and being involved in the various additions of the Union Prayerbook. Cohon wrote in many fields including philosophy, rabbinics and theology. The responsum was thoroughly researched along traditional lines and presented material from the Bible , Talmud and codes as well as modern studies. Nothing from the responsa literature was cited and a great deal of the analysis dealt with modern critical studies.
This responsa was subjected to debate at the Conference; the Chairman of the committee, Jacob Lauterbach , disagreed with Cohon and his position that the rabbinic prohibition should be maintained. Cohon ’s position was accepted by the Conference.
Although Samuel Cohon published no further responsa he did write answers akin to responsa to inquiries by former students; [ have seen some of them. They make references to the classical sources and codes with little or nothing from the later responsa literature. The questions with which he dealt were addressed to him by rabbis in a private fashion.
Jacob Lauterbach through his emphasis on rabbinics and Talmud moved the Responsa Committee in a new direction and gave it an impetus to review the rabbinic material in a scholarly manner. His efforts placed Reform responsa on an entirely different footing. It meant that Orthodox objections would have to be well grounded in the literature as these lengthy pieces could not simply be shrugged off. The number of responsa during this period remained small. Without doubt there were additional exchanges of letters between Lauterbach and his students and other members of the Central Conference on simple questions which he answered
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