Philosopher and Poseq- 97
increasingly aware that the totality of Judaism deserves the reverence our movement and all Jews ."«(31)
In Current Reform Responsa, published in 1969, Freehof the brief introduction emphasized that"we could not obtain our independence without denying and defying that(rabbinic) authority, but now we are strong and we can afford to be much more tolerant of the authoritative past."(52) Freehof here recognized various currents within the Reform Movement some of which have moved toward halakhah while others away from it. He pointed to various issues of conscience in which halakhah can not determine our course of action, for example, the rights of women which we have championed. In this introduction he stated that we will move toward a Reform code slowly as various mitzvot become accepted; he felt that the volumes of responsa were part of this process."The halakhic literature is the grandest repository of Jewish thinking and feeling and what we may find in it as answer to the various questions which we ask may not, indeed, govern our lives but will at least serve us as a guide."(53) Freehof ’s fourth volume, Modern Reform Responsa, published in 1971, contained a largely historic introduction and then again dealt with the changes both sociological and religious which have affected tradtional Judaism as well its reaction to the Reform movement. He related the position of modern American responsa to the first vigorous halakhic attack on Reform Judaism presented by Eleh Divrei Hab’rit(1818).