[Avodah] Minhag Avos and Sephardim

[Michael Makovi]

> Until a Minhag EY, Minhag America, etc. emerge, there is no minhag
> hamaqom to conform to. Wait more time after the Shoah and the expulsion
> from Moslem Lands, and I expect we (or more likely our grandchildren)
> will be conforming to local minhagim.
>
> R' Micha

I completely agree. As you once said previously, during the time of
the rishonim, the Ashkenazi minhag we know in the Rama took "forever"
to form, gradually over many generations.

My contention is, however, that until a new minhag ha-maqom forms, we
cannot create the unprecedented concept of minhag avot in the
meantime. If there is no minhag ha-maqom in Israel regarding qitniot,
this doesn't mean we have to create a minhag avot in the meantime. It
just means that regarding qitniot, the halakhah says "do what you
want".

After all, what makes qitniot so magical? There is no minhag ha-maqom
regarding basketball or sewing, but no one is demanding that everyone
do what his ancestors did regarding basketball and sewing. Rather,
everyone just does what he wants; it is parve. Likewise with qitniot,
I say; if there is no minhag ha-maqom, then there is nothing. We don't
have to create a new concept/obligation minhag avot in its place.

I am NOT saying it is GOOD to abandon minhag avot. I am simply saying
that there is no OBLIGATION from the halakhic literature to keep
minhag avot. If my Salonika-born friend in Israel wants to keep
singing Ladino songs, fine, have fun. But he has no OBLIGATION to do
so.

Michael