[Avodah] Segulos (was Parashas Ha'mon - A Segulah for Paranassah!)

[Zev Sero]

On 28/01/18 13:14, Prof. Levine via Avodah wrote:
> At 12:52 PM 1/28/2018, Ben Waxman wrote:
>> I understand and respect people who hold on to their minhagim.
>> However, if other chose to change, az mah?  This claim of "this
>> isn't the Judaism that I grew up with" is true but irrelevant. No
>> one decides for someone else what they should or should or shouldn't
>> be doing.  The Yahadut that I teach my daughter isn't what you teach
>> your kids and if you were to tell me "well that isn't what I grew up
>> with" I'd answer "You're absolutely right".
> 
> Don't rabbonim who paskin shailos decide for others "what they should
> or should not do"?

They pasken only what the person asking should do; they do not presume 
to dictate what every other Jew must do.


> Is Yahadus in your opinion something like a Chinese menu in which you
> pick and choose what you will have?

Actually Yahadus *is* often rather like a Chinese menu in that although 
there are many options available, you are constrained in which choices 
you may make; you can only have one item from each column.  All the 
other items on the menu are just as valid; they're just not available to 
you.

But in the matter of minhagim, generally Yahadus is not like a Chinese 
menu but like a normal a la carte menu, where you can choose whatever 
you like.  Social conventions may suggest that you stick to one 
selection from any category, and that you not mix options that appear to 
clash with each other, but you have every right to defy convention if 
you like, and your choices will be just as valid as anyone else's.

What is *not* Yahadus at all is pretending that only one corner of the 
menu is valid, and the rest of the menu doesn't exist.


-- 
Zev Sero            A prosperous and healthy 2018 to all
zev at sero.name       Seek Jerusalem's peace; may all who love you prosper