[Avodah] What is a minhag?

[Arie Folger]

RAM wrote:
> 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.

Minhag also has a third connotation: as in minhag Ashkenaz, which
means "the Ashkenazi tradition of pessaq," i.e., as we pasqen in
Ashkenaz. That rises far above "holy religious custom", to the level
of "din."
-- 
Arie Folger,
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