[Avodah] Consumer Alert: Minhog Scams On The Rise!

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 12:40:15PM +0300, Danny Schoemann wrote:
: Conclusion: Halocho is a free for all. There's a correct way to do
: things and then there's the way everybody does it, which is OK since
: everybody does it.

I would conclude that halakhah is a balancing act between conflicting
desiderata. You have rules, but they often "just" produce sets of pros
and cons that the poseiq then has to weigh (shiqul hadaas).

One such desirable is that there be cultural continuity (mimeticism).
Another is the textual strength of only replying the pesuqim in Qedushah.

If the norm to violate the text is widespread enough, it may be enough to
outweigh the fact that this is a second-best pesaq on the textual level.

But while that's grayer an "hairier" than straight algorithmic rules,
it's not a "free for all".

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Life isn't about finding yourself
micha at aishdas.org        Life is about creating yourself.
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