Solomon Bennett Freehof (August 8, 1892 – June 12, 1990) was a prominentReform rabbi,posek, and scholar. He served as president of theCentral Conference of American Rabbis and theWorld Union for Progressive Judaism. Beginning in 1955, he led the CCAR's work onJewish law through its responsa committee. He also spearheaded changes to Reformliturgy with revisions to theUnion Prayer Book (siddur). For many years, he served as the pulpit rabbi atRodef Shalom in Pittsburgh.[1]
Freehof was born in London, moved to the U.S. in 1903, received a degree from theUniversity of Cincinnati (1914) and ordained fromHebrew Union College (1915). He was aWorld War I armychaplain, a liturgy professor at HUC, and a rabbi at Chicago'sCongregation Kehillath Anshe Maarav before moving to Pittsburgh.[2] He retired in 1966. He is descended from theAlter Rebbe, the founder ofLubavitcher Hasidism.[3]
He studiedhalakhah with variousOrthodox rabbis, includingWolf Leiter of Pittsburgh[4] andLeopold Greenwald.[5]
Lillian (née Simon) Freehof, his wife, wrote plays, novels and children's books. They married in 1934. The couple had no children.[6]
Freehof was followed at Rodef Shalom, and in work on Reform responsa, by his protégé,Walter Jacob, who later established theFreehof Institute of Progressive Halakhah.[1]
In 1963, theCentral Conference of American Rabbis issued aresponsa 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.[7]
