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

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Michael Poppers wrote:

> Earlier today, I mentioned the example of unmarried bochurim, even
> those already b'nei mitzvah, not being misateif batalis -- perhaps
> that non-action could be defended in an era when taleisim were
> expensive (especially if the motivation was to avoid agudos, those
> who could afford taleisim for their boys and those who could not),
> but why is it treated nowadays, when taleisim are essentially
> affordable for all, as some sacred, positive minhag?

It is treated "as some sacred, positive minhag" because we've forgotten the reason behind it. All we know is that the previous generation acted this way, and did so deliberately, and so shall we.

Perhaps it is comparable to the practice of making simple and inexpensive funerals. I have heard many people comment about a fancy funeral that it run counter to Jewish values, but this is arguably untrue. My understanding is that for thousands of years, Jewish funerals were very fancy affairs, according great dignity to the niftar. So much so that it came about that many families, when they were unable to afford such a funeral, simply abandoned their relatives to rot without any burial at all. Because of this, Rabban Gamliel set a precedent of using simple tachrichim (Kesubos 8b), and thus was the minhag changed.

Thus, I understand simple funerals to NOT be an inherent good in Judaism. It was adopted as a policy to avoid the situation that existed in R Gamliel's day, but that doesn't change the *theoretical* ideal funeral being a fancy funeral. Yet people *perceive* the Jewish ideal to be a simple funeral. So too, people perceive the Jewish ideal to be that a single man doesn't wear a tallis even if he can afford it, even though the true ideal is otherwise.

Akiva Miller

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