[Avodah] minhagim

[Eli Turkel]

<<Question:  In EY the Torah was read in a 3 or 3 and half year
cycle.  If you want to follow the original EY way,  then why are you
following the Babylonian yearly cycle?   The answer is because when
they went back to EY they took with them their Golus minhagim.>>

According to academics (TaShma, Grossman etc) original Ashkenazi minhagim
are an amalgam of laws from the Bavli together with many customs of EY that
came
from southern Italy (under Byzantine rule) to Northern Italy and then to
Mainz.

As many have pointed out minhagim constantly evolve as populations move and
circumstances changes. I am not clear why this stress on German minhagim. On
a personal level my minhagim are a mish-mash of chassidic customs from home
and Litvishe things I learned in yeshiva. I can attest that I am not a
solitary example.

There are some charedi communities in EY that don't mix with other groups.
However, in many communities sefardim and ashkenazim marry not to speak of
chassidim and litvaks. In theory minhagim follow the husband but in real
life the kids are brought up with some mixture. As I already said
differences between home and yeshiva life lead to further dilution of strict
minhagim.

RMF already points out that New York and many other places no longer have a
minhag hamakom which affects many laws.
BTW I was confused by the original post. Many of the examples given are not
Israeli/Sefardi customs but Chassidic customs like saying Hallel in shul on
Pesach eve. True the original chassidim adopted some sefardi customs but
that is another whole game.
-- 
Eli Turkel
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