Reform Responsa- 57 ­

cook dairy products. The responsum, published over the name of Gotthardt Deutsch, treated the question as trivial, and contained an answer that was neither well-thought out nor well argued. Apparently these type of Orthodox -sounding questions did not engage the interest or intellect of these early Reform posqim. As a contrast you might consider the report of the committee the following year(1920) on what Jewish liturgical ceremonies(qiddush, wedding, Passover seder, etc) required the use of wine. Asked in the wake of the adoption of the 18th amendment, this responsum consumed nearly five pages of close argumentation and analysis.(31) Serious and detailed responsa could be written when the Committee felt the urge.

I cite these numerous cases to make a simple point. The first generation of American Reform responsa were interested in only a certain range of issues. As Kohler himself put it in 1913,"To sum up all I have said, we must in all matters of reform and progress agree upon the leading principles and not allow them to become arbitrary and individualistic...".(32) He was interested in scholarly essays which would examine the history of Jewish culture to determine what was essential for today’s world. These issues engaged him; merely halakhic trivialities did not. This 18 indicated not only by what was and was not asked, but also by how the occasional halakhic questions that did emerge were handled.

Along these same lines, it must be pointed out that other presumably halakhic issues were being considered by the Conference at this time, but not in the context of the Responsa Committee. Conference Committees were working at this same time on the question of music in the liturgy, on writing a new prayerbook, on revising the Pesah