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From: axm9839@acf4.UUCP (Asher Meth)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: whistling
Message-ID: <162@acf4.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 10-Jun-84 01:39:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: acf4.162
Posted: Sun Jun 10 01:39:58 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 11-Jun-84 00:27:00 EDT
References: <1696@dartvax.UUCP>, <158@acf4.UUCP>
Organization: New York University
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Or leyom rishon leparshas shelach, 10 SIVAN 5744.

I would like to clarify something i wrote in a previous article about minhagim.

I wrote that 'minhag yisroel din' and one should not categorically throw out
and just disregard any and all minhagim. I should qualify this by saying that
minhagim should be checked out (esp. if it is something that you want to
accept upon yourself or upon the community). Minhagim that were instituted by
gedolim (great rabbis), be they chassidim or misnagdim, and that were
instituted in a 'kehillah' setting, have a much stronger basis than other kinds
of minhagim, e.g., a three or four year old 'minhag of this shul' that was
instituted by Mr. X because that is the way he saw it done in some other 'new'
shul (i.e., not from the old country with years of custom behind it), and since
we have done it this way in this shul (that is only in existence these past
three years) that is the 'minhag of the shul' and you can't do differently !!
This 'other kind' cannot be classified in the same way as minhagim that date
back centuries in time, and were instituted by great rabbonim who knew what
they were doing. I question whether this 'other kind' can really be called
'minhag'. 
Another thing that a friend pointed out to me is that some minhagim develop
from very strange circumstances - (1) the chazzan (cantor) would always
slightly bow his head when he descended from the raised shulchan with the torah
in his hands, to return it to the aron (ark) before mussaf; why?? that's the
way it has been done in this shul for years !!! The old man on the side
explained the origin of this 'minhag' - in the old shul building
it seems that there was a low ceiling at the step where the chazzan descended
from the shulchan, and he bowed his head to protect himself from banging it !!
Of course, no one remembered the *reason* for the head-bowing, just that it was
'custom' to do it in the shul, and we don't tamper with customs.
(2) My friend mentioned that a girl asked to borrow a ring to put in her mouth
when she went to wash her hands 'al netilas yodoyim' before a meal. She had
always seen other girls and women do it, so she thought that you were
*supposed* to do it this way. What she didn't realize is that it was a
convenient place to put the ring while washing, but that it was not necessary
to have a ring and to put it in your mouth while washing. 

So, in summing up, not *all* minhagim have a good basis. It would be a good
idea to check the source of a minhag before you adopt it for yourself. Many
minhagim were instituted by great rabbonim and *do* have a good basis, even if
the basis cannot be found in halachah (in the strict sense of the word). Some
minhagim may have bases in 'kabbalah' or other teachings that are not available
to all. If you see someone doing something that you are not familiar with, why
not ask ??? You might even get a very good explanation for what the other
person is doing, and if he does not have an answer, suggest that he go back to
the person he learned it from to find out *why* he does it that way; or, ask a
competent and *well-versed* (and i stress that) rabbi and see what he says.


                   Asher Meth
                   allegra!cmcl2!acf4!axm9839