Solomon Bennett Freehof (August 8, 1892 – June 12, 1990) was a prominent

Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...

rabbi,

posek In Jewish law, a ''posek'' ( , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the application of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah, in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are incon ...

, and scholar. He served as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the

World Union for Progressive Judaism The World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) is the international umbrella organization for the various branches of Reform Judaism, Reform, Liberal and Progressive Judaism, as well as the separate Reconstructionist Judaism. The WUPJ is based i ...

. Beginning in 1955, he led the CCAR's work on

Jewish law ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

through its responsa committee. He also spearheaded changes to Reform

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

with revisions to the '' Union Prayer Book'' (

siddur A siddur ( ''sīddūr'', ; plural siddurim ) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.' Other terms for prayer books are ''tefillot'' () among Sephardi Jews, ''tef ...

). For many years, he served as the pulpit rabbi at Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh, PA.Rodef Shalom Congregation, Pittsburgh, PA - More information

Personal life

Freehof was born in London, moved to the U.S. in 1903, received a degree from the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

(1914) and ordained from

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until ...

(1915). He was a

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

army

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

, a liturgy professor at HUC, and a rabbi at Chicago's Congregation Kehillath Anshe Maarav before moving to Pittsburgh. He retired in 1966. He is descended from the Alter Rebbe, the founder of Lubavitcher Hasidism. He studied halakhah with various Orthodox rabbis, including Wolf Leiter of Pittsburgh and Leopold Greenwald. Lillian (née Simon) Freehof, his wife, wrote plays, novels and children's books. They married in 1934. The couple had no children. Freehof was followed at Rodef Shalom, and in work on Reform responsa, by his protégé, Walter Jacob, who later established the Freehof Institute of Progressive Halakhah. In 1963, the Central Conference of American Rabbis issued a

responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...

written by Freehof titled "Miscegenation and Conversion of Negroes", stating that there was no prohibition in Reform Judaism against interracial marriage, citing the marriage of Moses to Zipporah, an Ethiopian woman. The responsa describes the conversion of African Americans to Judaism as a "troublesome situation", because a "Negro becoming a Jew subjects himself to double difficulties." Freehof wrote that he would discourage an African-American man who wanted to marry a Jewish woman "For the sake of their happiness", but would not refuse.

Sources

* Cohn-Sherbok, Dan “Law in Reform Judaism : a study of Solomon Freehof” in Jewish Law Annual * ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'', Vol.7 p. 121 * Friedman, Rabbi Joan. "'Guidance, Not Governance': Rabbi Solomon Freehof and Reform Responsa", (a 2013

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of qual ...

finalist) * Friedman, Rabbi Joan. "The Making of a Reform Rabbi: Solomon Freehof from Childhood to HUC," American Jewish Archives Journal, 58/1-2 (2006): 1-49. * ___________. "The writing of 'Reform Jewish Practice and Its Rabbinic Background'" in ''CCAR Journal'' 51, * Friedman, Rabbi Joan. "A Critique of Solomon Freehof's Concept of Minhag and Reform Jewish Practice." In ''Re-examining Progressive Halakhah, Studies in Progressive Halakhah'', ed. Walter Jacob and Moshe Zemer, 111-133. NY: Berghahn Books, 2002. * Inventory of the Freehof papers, including a biography * Jacob,Walter et al., Eds. ''Essays in Honor of Solomon B. Freehof'' 1964 (A collection of 19 essays about Freehof, including a bibliography.) * Weiss, Kenneth J. “Freehof’s methodology as a Reform Jewish halachist” in Journal of Reform Judaism 32,

Selected works

*''Contemporary Reform Responsa'', 1974. *''Current Reform Responsa'', 1969. *''Modern Reform Responsa'', 1971. *''New Reform Responsa'', 1980. *''Reform Responsa'', 1960. *''Recent Reform Responsa'', 1963. *''Reform Responsa for our Time'', 1977. *''The Responsa Literature'' Hebrew Union College Press, 1955 *''Today's Reform Responsa'', 1990. *"The Natural Law in the Jewish Tradition", University of Notre Dame ''Natural Law Institute Proceedings'', v.15, p. 15 *Commentaries on

Ezekiel Ezekiel, also spelled Ezechiel (; ; ), was an Israelite priest. The Book of Ezekiel, relating his visions and acts, is named after him. The Abrahamic religions acknowledge Ezekiel as a prophet. According to the narrative, Ezekiel prophesied ...

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...

, Job,

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

, e.g., ''Book of Job, A Commentary''. UAHC, 1958 *''Preaching the Bible: Sermons for Sabbaths and high holy days '', 1974 *''Reform Jewish practice and its rabbinic background'', 1952 *''The small sanctuary: Judaism in the prayerbook'', 1942 *''Stormers of heaven'', 1931

Award

* 1976:

in the Jewish Thought category for ''Contemporary Reform Resonsa''

Notes

Websites

The Solomon B. Freehof Institute of Progressive Halakhah
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freehof, Solomon 1892 births 1990 deaths American Reform rabbis English Jews World War I chaplains United States Army chaplains Rabbis in the military 20th-century American rabbis American people of English-Jewish descent Reform poskim