[Avodah] Mayim Achronim

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 04:44:03PM +0200, Goldmeier wrote:
> if mayim achronim is a chova, as the SA says (not my minhag personally,
> but not the point), where is the exemption for women? Does mayim sdomis,
> or the chiyuv, not apply to women somehow?

Tosafos note that even in their day, Ashk considered mayim achronim (MA)
non-obligatory. They say this is because we don't use melach sedomis.

In the Bavli (Berakhos 53b, Chullin 105a-b, Eiruvin 17b -- Chullin and
Eiruvin are pretty much identical), there are two reasons given for MA:
melakh sedomis (found in all gemaras), and a comparison to mayim rishonim
(only in Berakhos). For Tosafos' rationale to work, one would be ignoring
the mayim rishonim and thus taharah motive. Which, conveniently enough,
matches the Tanchuma, which only has

Which would make this an instance of a pattern noted by historians of
halakhah: many machloqesin between Ashk and Seph date back to EY vs
Bavel. This is consistent with beliefs about migration -- that that a
significant segment of Ashk (probably a majority) came from EY (via Italy
and to some extent Greece), whereas Seph is nearly entirely from Bavel.

And the genetic survey published last summer shows that the major
split in genetics isn't due to the small number of founding Ashkenazi
mothers. The big split is between Roman and Parthian empires. Syrian
Jews are more genetically similar to Ashkenazim than to Sepharadim or
most other of the Middle Eastern communities because their ancestors
were in the Roman empire, and thus married more often with the Jews in
Israel and Italy who later settled Ashkenaz.

See http://www.cell.com/AJHG/retrieve/pii/S0002929710002466

    Abraham's Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations
    Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry

    Gil Atzmon, Li Hao, Itsik Pe'er, Christopher Velez, Alexander Pearlman,
    Pier Francesco Palamara, Bernice Morrow, Eitan Friedman, Carole Oddoux,
    Edward Burns and Harry Ostrer

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man is equipped with such far-reaching vision,
micha at aishdas.org        yet the smallest coin can obstruct his view.
http://www.aishdas.org                         - Rav Yisrael Salanter
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