RICHARD ROSENTHAL

him that grounds for a different answer exist. Perhaps this situation had already been discussed?

Although he asked in German , this was an American question for it implied that despite the fact that halakhah is fixed, in the new world all is possible and perhaps here an exception had already been made. It is not at all clear what answer the rabbi sought from his respondents. But it is clear that he took it for granted that in this new Jewish world nothing was impossible. Law may be set aside; traditions altered and transformed. In 1890, Rabbi Spitz recollected:"...we in our desire to stand justified before the old parents of the Jewish girl wished by an expression of opinion from our colleagues to fortify our position in not admitting the Gentile without the required rite...we refused to admit the gentleman and whether or not the young couple has married each other, we cannot tell.®

Bernard Felsenthal answered the question with a monograph on the Jewish attitude toward proselytes. In passing, it is interesting to note that one reason for his answer was to encourage the creation of responsa. The answer to Rabbi Spitz’s question, he suggested, depended on the answer to a prior question: Does Judaism want to receive proselytes? Is Judaism a universal religion wanting to share its truth? To show that Judaism has welcomed proselytes, he reviewed the history of gerut through Bible , Talmud and rabbinic writings. He continued to his own time by quoting Abraham Geiger 's response to the milat gerim debate of the Philadelphia Conference:"It is a matter of opening wide the halls of Judaism to the enlightened holders of a belief in the pure God concept..."

He continued saying that milah was not necessary and suggested a possible new way to receive proselytes. But he did not stop there. He gave us a model of responsible pluralism: A dialogue between himself(as a reformer) with a traditionalist. His

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