- 52- Peter J. Haas

undercut. It becomes an empty form. It is no wonder that in German Reform as it was now

being articulated, the struggle to appropriate the responsa form fizzled out.

We now turn to America and what I have called the third era in Reform responsa-writing. On this side of the Atlantic the story was quite different, for reasons I will adduce in due course. What can be said at the outset is that the responsa form not only was planted in the soil of the New World, but took root and flourished. As interesting as it is to know why responsa died in

Germany Reform , it is just as interesting to know why they flourished here.

It must be borne in mind that there was a considerable hiatus between the last Gutachten of German Reform and the first publication of American Reform responsa. This is due in part to the late start American Reform Judaism had in becoming organized. It is possible, if one is looking for firm dates, to say Reform began here in 1838 with the introduction of an organ into the worship service of Congregation Beth El in Charleston , South Carolina . The organ was, of course, a prime symptom of reforming tendencies. But it was really only after the Civil Was that American Reform began to achieve stable institutional expression. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations was established by Isaac M. Wise in 1873. Two years later the Hebrew Union College formally opened. In 1889, the first alumni of the College came together to form the Central Conference of American Rabbis. It was this later group that organized the first"official" responsa writing authority for Reform Judaism in America . This is nearly fifth years after the

publication of the two Gutachten

volumes mentioned above.