A Critique of Solomon B. Freehof ’s Concept of Minhag 133

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59. 60. 61.

Freehof , p. 10. Of course, he was far from unique in failing to discern the adaptability of Orthodoxy to modern life and its resurgence both in modern and haredi forms.

Freehof , p. 11.

See“Introduction,” Reform Responsa, Cincinnati , 1960, pp. 8ff.;“Reform Judaism and the Legal Tradition,” Annual Tintner Memorial Lecture, Asso­ciation of Reform Rabbis of New York City and Vicinity, New York , 1961; “The Reform Revaluation of Jewish Law,” The Louis Caplan Lectureship on Jewish Law , Cincinnati , 1972, pp. 13ff.

See numerous citations in Elon , vol. I, pp. 13ff

Elon , vol. I, p. 14

The Landjudenschaften of this era generally were granted less internal auton­omy and were subject to more government supervision than their medieval

counterparts. See e.g., Josef Meisl, ed., Protokolbuch der juedischen Gemeinde

Berlins, 1723-1854, Jerusalem , 1962, pp. 11{f.

Those very few Hofjuden and other wealthy Jews of the eighteenth century who neglected ritual observances are exceptional. The vast majority of Jews continued to observe the ritual laws, whether or not their courts were allowed jurisdiction in matters of mamon.

“In the wake of the passage of the Declaration of the Rights of Man , Ashke­ nazi policy... changed reluctantly....[T]he leaders of the Ashkenazim tried desperately to retain the right to Jewish communal organization. They argued that it could not be the intention of the government to give them the benefit of equality while at the same time demeaning them by taking away their autonomy. Their inherited practices had been their consolation in adversity and they wanted to preserve them in happier times...” Arthur Hertzberg , The French Enlightenment and the Jews , New York , 1968, p. 344. The French Ashkenazim of Alsace-Lorraine were far more similar to the Jews of Germany than they were to the French Sefardic community centered in Bordeaux , and the reaction of its leadership therefore sheds light on atti­tudes with German Jewry.

Freehof , p. 15.

See n. 43.

This is not the only instance in which Freehof ’s ideas sponsa, he was fond of saying that

carry echoes of

Mordecai Kaplan 's. With regard to his re Ing “the past offers guidance, not governance;” a phrase strangely reminiscent of Kaplan 's dictum that“the past has a vote but not a veto.” Kaplan , how­hof frequently stated in

ever, was a system-builder and Freehof was not. Free et decided

his correspondence that because the Reform movement had not y ated to Shabbat observance, he could not give

how to deal with questions rel d to him as Chairman of the

official answers to many questions submitte Responsa Committee. AJAA MS-435) Freehof, pp. 13-14.

Letter to Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein , October Rochester , NY. (AJA MS-435)

Letter to Rabbi Harold Silver, Temple Emanue (AJA MS-435)

16, 1963, Temple Brith Kodesh,

1, Pittsburgh , April 16, 1962.