[Avodah] Minhag Avos and Minhag haMakom

[Micha Berger]

A recent gemara, Yerushalmi Pesachim 4:1, vilna 26a, discusses minhagim.
One case is when the fishermen of Tiveria were exiled to the Mediterranean
coast. They had a custom not to fish on chol hamo'ed, or not to fish
using the more aruous tools. (After all, people like having fish on the
last day of y"t -- the minhag as originally described would minimize
simchas y"t!) So they asked rebbe who pasqened for them that they had
to preserve their minhag.

The gemara doesn't tell us if there already were fishermen on the
Mediterranian coast, but I don't know of a period in history where there
wasn't. Thus they were keeping minhag avos over minhag hamaqom. Maybe
they had their own little enclave.

The gemara is clear that minhag avos is an inherited neder, and since they
didn't make the neder, they can't get a hatarah.

Also, if you look further down the amud, you'll see R' Yochanan holds that
bal tisgodedu doesn't apply to minhagim, only to conflicts in pesaq. And,
bal tisgodedu isn't just one shul or shekhunah -- it includes having
different pesaqim in Yehudah and the Galil!

In any case, accoring to RY, there is little motivation to abandon
minhag avos even when entering a place with a different and established
minhag hamaqom.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
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