[Avodah] changing tune in lecha dodi

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Shaya Goldmeier asked:

> I know many people do this, regardless of MO vs Chareidi leanings.
> Personally, if the chazan has the kehilla "rockin" with the tune,
> I hate the disruption changing the tune creates.

I too find the change very jarring.

> he says, "it's become minhag Yisroel" to change the tune. Now my
> rov is generally a nationally respected rov and poseik. When I
> questioned him about the status of this strange behavior, he
> replied, yes, it is now minhag yisroel and I hate it when the
> chazan doesn't change the tune.
>
> So, my question to you all is, minhag yisroel? do ALL of you change
> the tune?

Not only are there many times when we have a shatz who doesn't change the tune, but I've been in MANY places where Lecha Dodi is not even sung at all, but merely recited. How can it possibly be "minhag yisroel" when there are so many variations?

I am very curious how this rav would explain the development and establishment of new minhagim. On the one hand, by saying "it is now minhag yisroel", he seems to be saying that this is a new minhag which only recently achieved that status. But at the same time he is admitting that it is *not* universally followed. Isn't that contradictory?

It seems to me that the burden is on *him* to (1) define at what point a "popular practice" becomes a "minhag yisroel", and then to (2) reveal the research and statistics which show that this point has been reached.

Akiva Miller

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