118 Walter Jacob 5 No meetings or exchanges of correspondence have been recorded for the chairs of this committee before Solomon B. Frechof. Dr. Freehof did not involve the committee member

in his work. It was his practice to send the responsum that he considered sufficiently significant

to serve as the official responsum of the Conference for that year to the members of the

committee with a reply postcard. Only once did a committee member write a minority opinion

6. Solomon Freehof leamed bookbinding while in Pittsburgh as a way of maintaining his large library and relaxing. His responsa library, given as a gift to the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati , has a joyful look about it as he used remnants of binding material from the professional bindery of the Carnegie Library. This led to odd combination of colors and two­

tone bindings. First editions, however, were bound in leather Walter Jacob.

“The Influence of the Pittsburgh Platform on Reform Halakhah and Biblical Study.” The Changing World of Reform Judaism- The Pittsburgh Platform in Retrospecl, (Pittsburgh :Rodef Shalom Press, 1985), pp. 25 fT.

8. B. M. 59b

9. R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, Joseph Karo- Lawyer and Mystic(Philadelphia 1977, Jewish Publication Society

)

10. For a fuller discussion and other sources see Walter Jacob ,“The Sources of Reform Halachic Authority,” Rabbinic Authority[ed. Elliot L. Stevens],(New York , 1982: Central Conference of American Rabbis), pp. 31 ff