[Avodah] What is a minhag?

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

In the thread "Children at a Wedding", R"n Toby Katz wrote:

>... I would like to point out that I was  consistently careful
> to use the word "practice" and not "minhag" ...

to which R' Micha Berger wrote:

> Anyone have in mind a chiluq by which one could know which
> practices get labeled "minhag"? My intuitive feel is
> similar to RnTK's, but the contrarian in me is wondering...
> How do we know? Maybe they all are minhagim, albeit some
> are minhagei shetus or ta'os. So, a formal chiluq would be
> of help.

Oooh goodie, a discussion about the definition of terms! :-)

I believe that the confusion arises in this case because although the technical halachic term "minhag" means "holy religious custom", there is also a colloquial Hebrew term "minhag" which means "practice" or "habit". There are many cases where it is very easy to confuse these terms, but I believe that the qualifiers "shetus" and "ta'us" are added specifically to clarify that they are *not* holy religious customs, but foolish practices and mistaken practices.

But it is still important to have a "formal chiluq". I believe that a "practice" is one where I can choose what I'll do, but a "minhag" is one where I am obligated to follow my family or my community. It is easy to find examples of the latter -- time between meat and dairy, which nusach of davening -- but I'm never really sure of which practices I can choose, and it often ends up going to the LOR on a case-by-case basis.

Just one simple illustration: In the summer, whether one says "Morid Hatal" or omits it seems to be a minhag. But in the winter, whether one says "Morid Hagashem" or "Morid Hageshem" -- I dunno, is that a minhag or a practice? Lots of people seem to choose on their own, with little regard for precedent.

Akiva Miller

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