[Avodah] Minhag Avos and Minhag haMaqom

[Micha Berger]

Some group named Machon Shilo raised the question of qitniyos in EY bizman
hazeh. Regardless of my opinion of their basic argument (discussed on Areivim)
I would be interested in a discussion on the nature of minhag.

In most of our communities today (places like Frankfort-am-Hudson, New Square,
etc... aside), the locale does not have its own minhag. Rather, we are still
looking back to our father's or grandfather's place of origin and retaining
that location's minhag. A yekke living in Elizabeth probably still waits only
three hours after meat, washes his hands before qiddush, etc...

As pointed out on Areivim, this is mutar. The typical town is like the
talmudic case of one with two batei din. Although in Elizabeth, with REMT's
say in the running of every facet of the kehillah, I find that a stretch.

I do not see how this is a good thing, or how minhag is /supposed/ to work.
Yom tov sheini shel goliyos, the textbook "minhag avoseihem beyadeihem",
depends on where someone calls home, perhaps even for shorter stays, not
whether my family happened to live in EY or in Bavel during bayis sheini. The
ideal for minhag is for a locale to have a norm.

Of course, what we're seeing right now could simply be the consequence of
living in a transition period. We'll never know, as the emergence of a
communal identity reflecting our current actual locales will be overwhelmed by
the effects of having a melekh, a BHMQ, and a Sanhedrin, well before the
generations it would take.

And I think that's really it. Minhag, being what is is, would have to merge
naturally, because people happen to converge in behavior. Much the way
upsherin is spreading among American Litvaks. Even if it were not Machon Shilo
but a group of rabbanim with greater name recognition and accepted authority,
I am not sure they can unify minhag through proclamation. (Perhaps that's why
such groups haven't tried.)

But I do not think the status quo is a good thing, or how minhag should work.
While I might lament the death of a derekh hachaim that served my family so
well for generations, not every minhag that I was raised with can and should
emerge victorious. IMHO, it is better to see a singular minhag EY than a
survival of minhag Litta or Aram Tzova. (And better to see a geulah than see a
minhag America ever develop.)

WADR to those among us who are vocal advocates for preservation of their
distinct minhagim. Actually, their championing the minhagim and hashkafah of
their forebearers will play a significant role in what kind of norm emerges.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
micha at aishdas.org        your grip on it, it chokes; slacken your grip,
http://www.aishdas.org   and it flies away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter