[Avodah] Tefilin On Chol hamoed In Eretz Yisroel (and Flatbush)

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 11:31:27AM -0400, Prof. Levine via Avodah wrote:
:> Is that a common interperation of minhag hamaqom -- that there be
:> a common practice in all things? I understood minhag hamaqom to
:> be designated practive by practice.

: Otherwise the concept of Minhag Ha Makom is meaningless....

Again, why? It is meaningful to say, "here, the minhag hamaqom is to say
"umoried hageshem", not "gashem", without making reference to anything
else the qeillah might do. Why do we need a context of a qehillah that
has many such rules rather than a few? And how many?

: Many people wear tefillin on chol hamoed in Eretz 
: Yisroel, including some gedolim. However, some do 
: it betzinoh so it is not so well known.

You misspelled, "a tiny percentage".

: One such godol is the Erlauer Rebbe. You can go 
: in his beis medrash and see him with tefillin. He 
: keeps the minhogim of his zeide, the Chasam 
: Sofer, to wear tefillin on chol hamoed and daven nusach Ashkenaz.

One may argue that the Erlau community has their own minhag, and their
beis medrash it's own minhag hamaqom.

But that raises questions of how one defines "maqom" that I don't know how
to answer.

....
: Bekitzur, Al titosh toras imecho, keep on 
: following your minhog and Al yisbayeish., as the 
: Rama says in beginning of Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim.

Minhag avos is inferior to minhag hamaqom. In fact, we have had a hard time
finding its basis.

The best I can come up with is that minhag avos means that in the absence
of a minhag hamaqom in your current location, you should follow the minhag
hamaqom of your prior location even if that means the location of your
avos.

:> For other things? Give it time. How long did it take Jews from Provence,
:> Italy and elsewhere to congeal into a single minhag Ashkenaz?

: On the contrary,  I doubt that the Chassidim will 
: ever eat Gebrokts on Pesach,  the Sephardim will 
: stop eating kitnyos, and  the non-Chassidic world 
: will stop eating Gebrokts on Pesach.

And yet nowadays Sepharadim make an Ashkenazi qutzo shel yud, to be
yotzei lekhos hadei'os. Yekkes and Litvaks eat glatt out of necessity
(go find reliable non-glatt), but how many would eat that piece of
non-glatt if they found a reliable hekhsher for it?

Similarly, I can't count the number of upsherins I've attended for
children of Litzvish or Yekkish lineage.

The choilam is far broader in the US than its ancestry; and in other
communities, tav-lessness caught on.

How many non-Morrocans in Israel celebrate Mimouna nowadays? It seems from
the media, this minhag is spreading. (I think it would be a beautiful
thing for "misht-night" communities to adopt. After a week of not being
guests, make a point of sharing food and showing it had nothing to do
with a lack of friendship.)

I see lines coalescing. These things take centuries, and accelerate as
people who remember pre-migration life pass away. We just begun.

I think it is less that a Minhag America can't emerge than the mashiach
won't give it the time necesssary to emerge. And Minhag EY may go back
to being by sheivet and nachalah, but in any case its evolution will be
radically changed by the rapid influx of the rest of Kelal Yisrael.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 10th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        1 week and 3 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Tifferes sheb'Gevurah: When does strict
Fax: (270) 514-1507                  judgment bring balance and harmony?