have even helped lead to the positive approach toward mitzvot found in the revised Pittsburgh Platform of 1999.
It is also clear that his halakhic writings will continue to influence Conservative and Reform poskim for many years to come And in that sense Rabbi Freehof continues to speak to us, as we have learned in the tractate of Yev. 97a: kol talmid hakham shomrim devar shemua mipiv ba’olam hazeh siftotav devevot bakever—“Any sage who has a teaching cited in his name in this world, his lips murmur in the grave.” Yehi zikhro barukh!
Notes
*In memory of Eve and Avid Boaz zl. 21 Tevet and 2 Shevat 5762.“Beloved and cherished in life; even in their death, they were not divided.”
I. This section is based on The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia(New York : Universal Encyclopedia Press, 1941), vol. 4, p. 433; Walter Jacob et al.[editors], Essays in Honor of Solomon B. Freehof(Pittsburgh : Rodef Shalom, 1964), hereafter: Essays, Encylopaedia Judaica . vol. 7, col. 121; Rabbi Walter Jacob in Rabbi Solomon Freehof , Reform Responsa for Our Time(Cincinnati : Hebrew Union College Press , 1977) pp. ix-xxvii,; The New York Times , June 13, 1990, p. B20, American Jewish Yearbook(New York : 1992,) vol. 92, pp. 594-595, Kerry Olitzky et al.[editors], Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook(Westport , Conn. : 1993) pp. 62-64.
2. According to Rabbi Walter Jacob in his introduction to Rabbi Solomon Frechof, Today's Reform Responsa(Pittsburgh : Rodef Shalom Press, 1990), before p. 1.
3 Judaism vol. 1, no. 3,(July 1952), p. 270. Regarding Freehof ’s close relationship to Lauterbach, see also his dedication to Reform Jewish Practice(Cincinnati : Hebrew Union College Press , 1944)[“to the memory of my revered and beloved teacher’), his introduction 0 Recent Reform Responsa(Cincinnati : Hebrew Union College Press , 1963), p. 12[“my revered and unforgettable teacher] and his introduction to Lauterbach’s Rabbinic Essays(Cincinnall Hebrew Union College Press, 1951) pp. xiii-xvi.
4. The expression ish eshkolot is used to describe two early Sages in Sotah 9:9. Samuel Sotah 47b) explains the term as a notarikon of ish eshkolot—“a man who contains everything.
5. Essays, pp. 53-93.