[Avodah] Questions about Krias Ha Torah

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Tue, Nov 08, 2016 at 02:26:02PM -0500, Prof. Levine via Avodah wrote:
: Are we to deduce the same for other practices,  namely,  that there 
: was no single standard? If so,  then the Yahadus we have today is a 
: far cry from what it was originally.  People did many different 
: things.  For example,  the format of tefillah was established by the 
: Anshe Knesses Ha Gedola.   Before this occurred,  presumably people 
: had widely different versions of, say, shemone esrei...

Tefillah. AkhG invented Shemoneh Esrei. Before this occured, davening
couldn't mean Shemoneh Esrei in any version.

And even at the end of the 2nd Beis haMiqdash, the chasimos of Shemoneh
Esrei were established, but the bodies of each berakhah was pretty
free-form. Just make sure that the body closes with me'ein hachasimah.

That's why you didn't trust a Chazan who ad-libbed "Modim Modim" as
possibly being a Gnostic or Zoroastan dualist.

And why R' Chaninah had a talmid who went on and on with complemenary
adjectives in Birkhas Avos -- "haKeol haGadol haGibor vehaNora vehaAdir,
vehaIzuz..." until his rebbe said "Have you exhaused all possible praise
of your master? (Berakhos 33b)

There are remians of THREE parashah orderings among the tefillin worn
by those who fought under the Chashmonaim -- including those that conform
to Rashi and to Rabbeinu Tam.

The question of how many strings of tzitzis should be blue and how
to combine the number and colors of the windings with the knots was
never resolved.

Etc...

:                                                        If so,  then 
: why is there so much emphasis in Judaism today regarding doing 
: mitzvas in a very precise and prescribed manner?

Because pesaqim accumulate. Halakhah is crystalizing. Meanwhile, there
are always new questions that are open...

Especially when there are arguments over which pesaq is better, and
it threatens to turn the community into agudos agudos. Then the poseiq
has to set up a communial pesaq rather than allowing people more
autonomy.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The thought of happiness that comes from outside
micha at aishdas.org        the person, brings him sadness. But realizing
http://www.aishdas.org   the value of one's will and the freedom brought
Fax: (270) 514-1507      by uplifting its, brings great joy. - R' Kook