[Avodah] More on Reviving a Ritual of Tending to the dead

[Joseph C. Kaplan]

In a lengthy post on R & C Chevrot, Rn'CL wrote:
> You see, even for those who disagree with Rav Moshe and hold that even a
> member of the C and R rabbinate can be considered a tinuk shenishba, there
> is still a different equation when you are potentially talking about
> strengthening problematic movements as a whole.  And sometimes that is
> regarded as overriding the needs of the individual (eg there are various
> rumours regarding psak that even if a C shul is the only one to go to, one
> should not go there to hear shofar) ...."

If the reference to the pesak about shofar is to the famous pesak of
RYBS, then I think some clarification is needed. RYBS's ruling that it
is better to stay home than to hear shofar in what RnCL calls a "C shul"
was not about not strengthening problematic movements. Indeed, RYBS did
not refer to C (or R) shuls; he spoke about shuls with mixed pews (not,
I note, shuls w/o mechitzot, but shuls w/ mixed pews; today there may be
no difference, but that was not the case in the 1950s when this question
arose. But I digress somewhat.) The point is that the pesak was about
not going to mixed pew synagogues because they lacked the sanctity of a
makom tefillah; not that listening to shofar in such a synagogue would
be strengthening such movements.

Joseph Kaplan