[Avodah] Minhag Avos and Sephardim

[Michael Makovi]

> Several Sephardic rabbis have told me point blank that while Talmud
> has several references to minhag hamaqom, there is no talmudic basis for
> minhag avos.
>
> R' Rich Wolpoe

See Professor Menachem Friedman's “The Changing Role of the Community
Rabbinate”, his “The 'Family-Community' Model”, his “Halachic Rabbinic
Authority in the Modern Open Society”, his “Haredim Confront the
Modern City”, his “Life Tradition and Book Tradition”, and his “The
Market Model and Religious Radicalism” for analysis of the differences
between traditional geographically-constituted communities and the new
un-traditional selective voluntary communities. All of his essays are
available at http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/so/mfriedman.html.

Also, see Rabbi Marc Angel, "Thoughts About Early American Jewry"
(Tradition 16:2, Fall 1976.):

"The [Judeo-Spanish Sephardi] kehillot did not see themselves as mere
synagogues, serving only segments of Jewry; rather they viewed
themselves as the communal governments of all the Jewish people WITHIN
THEIR DOMAINS [emphasis added]. … It is nevertheless clear that the
idea of the kahal as a communal government .was central among the
Sephardim. … They also indicate the central authority which was
relegated to the kahal. … The, constitution of [Congregation] Beth
E-lohim [in Charleston] (1820), states that all Israelites who have
lived in the CITY [emphasis added] for at least one year shall be
bound to..."

Michael Makovi