the son to follow the same pious practices. Bachrach answered
that the son was so obligated. Then, to illustrate his decision, he
described how, in the year 1699, the entire city of Worms was
destroyed by the French armies, and, how of course, the Jewish
community also was destroyed. Jewish refugees from the old
community met Bachrach on his wanderings and asked him
whether the old customs of special piety observed in the former
community of Worms were still incumbent upon them now that
the community no longer existed. He answered that they must
never give up hope that the community would be restored; and
that no matter where they might now live, they were still in duty
bound to observe the old community pieties. Thus, Bachrach,
wishing merely to illustrate a point of law, gives us an historical
fact in fairly full detail and also explains how it was possible
for the Rhineland communities, so often broken up by fire, perse-
cution and expulsion, to find enough stability to develop local
customs of such tenacity that many of them remained a perma-
nent religious custom for all Ashkenazi Jewry. (See responsum
32, p. 173.)

Since, therefore, this selection, like all anthologies, depends
upon the tastes and interests of the anthologist, it is to be hoped
that other students of the literature, perhaps discontented with
this collection, will gather other samples of the responsa litera-
ture and that thus, from book to book, this great monument of
Jewish piety and intelligence will become known to an ever-wid-
ening circle of appreciative readers.

September 14, 1962 S. B. F.

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