[Avodah] new customs

[Eli Turkel]

In the Bar Ilan parsha sheet ob Vayechi, R. Daniel Sperber points out that the
custom of blessing ones children and citing the blessing of
Ephraim and Menashe first appears in the siddur of R. Yaakov Emden.
Furthermore the custom of some to use only one hand when blessing the children
only has a mystic support of not combining mercy and justice. The story that the
Vilna Gaon blessed the Nodah BeYehuda is based on a mistake. A contemporary
brings that this happened because the Gaon's hand was dirty and Nodah BeYehuda
didn't want his shtreimel dirtied. Later in life he regreted caring
more about the shteimel
then having the Gaon put 2 hands on his head in the blessing

-- 
Eli Turkel