[Avodah] Dancing Around A Bonfire & Concern of Foreign Practices: Rav Wosner's Responsum

[Zev Sero]

On 02/05/18 13:53, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> On Wed, May 02, 2018 at 12:45:50PM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
> : >I don't know the origin.
> :
> : The origin is with the shift in the significance of the day from the
> : end of mourning for R Akiva's students to the celebration of
> : Rashbi's happy day, the day of his "wedding", when he revealed the
> : Idra Zuta and returned to his Maker.
> 
> That's is the taam behind the post-change practice. It does not explain
> how or when the older minhag was changed.

It follows that the minhag changed when the significance of the day 
changed.  In other words, the minhogim of the day when R Akiva's 
talmidim stopped dying did not change, but on top of them came a whole 
new layer of minhogim for the new holiday that occupies the same day on 
the calendar.

For a similar example, the significance of 3 Tammuz in Lubavitch changed 
dramatically in 5754.  The earlier significance of that day  and 
whatever practices it had did not go away, e.g. those who did not say 
tachanun on 3 Tammuz before 5754 still don't say it, while those who did 
still do, but the new significance, and the host of practices that came 
with it, overwhelmed the earlier significance and observance.


> And, the first mention that the Peri Eitz Chaim's "yom simchas Rashbi"
> is a day for our simchah is Chamdas Yamim. With the problem that raises.

Doesn't the Idra Zuta say that Rashbi asked for his hilula to be 
celebrated rather than mourned?


> You also insert your own explanation of "yom simchas Rashbi". It could,
> after all, still be his yahrzeit, or as per your own rebbe (RMMS,
> in a letter to R' Zevin; unforunately I don't have a mar'eh maqom)
> that it was the day R' Aqiva started over with 5 talmidim -- thus,
> Rashbi's simchah as one of those 5.

Whether it's the correct explanation of the Pri Etz Chaim or not, it is 
the one held by the people actually doing the celebrating, and thus 
fully explains their practices.


> ...
> : The first edition of SA Harav, and especially Hilchos Pesach, which
> : is the first section he wrote, follows nigleh, not nistar, and
> : relies heavily on the Magen Avraham...
> 
> I do not know if celebrations the night of Lag baOmer existed yet even.

They certainly existed in the next generation, so there's no reason to 
suppose they didn't exist in his day.


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