[Avodah] Mayim Achronim

[Zev Sero]

On 23/12/2010 7:07 PM, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:

> I agree with your conclusion, but not with the logic you use to get there.
>
> If a man does everything his father and grandfather did, then when he relies on them and skips something that the Shulchan Aruch requires, does he have a perfect excuse? His father and grandfather didn't do it, so why should he?

If his father and grandfather, and so on through the generations, were
anashim yere'im ushlemim, al achas kama vechama if they were talmidei
chachamim, and they didn't do something, then yes, I'd say that is good
proof, for that person at least, that it's not required.  This actually
works better for men than for women, because one could always claim that
the women all along the line may have meant well but they were after all
unlearned, and maybe they were simply ignorant of this halacha and the
men didn't feel right correcting them, so they let it slide because it's
after all only a minor thing.

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                      - Margaret Thatcher