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

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, May 02, 2018 at 08:33:44AM +0000, Professor L. Levine via Avodah wrote:
: From https://goo.gl/W49XHX

: Toras Aba<http://torasaba.blogspot.com> just put up an interesting post discussing a halachic concern regarding dancing around a bonfire, due to similarity with ancient practice of idolators.

Most of us have little problem with Israel's Moment of Silence on Yom
haZikaron and Yom haSho'ah, at least not Derekh Emori problems. And we
wear ties. There are limits to invoking Derekh Emori.

To my mind, what's more problematic is ending omer mourning before Lag
baOmer morning. The SA has you wait for haircuts until 34 laOmer (493:2)
and the Rama cites the Maharil and minhag on the 33rd "umarbim bo qetzas
simchah, but explicitly writes, "ve'ein lehistapeir ad La"G be'atzmo
velo miba'erev". With exceptions for cutting before Shabbos rather than
waiting for Sunday and for berisim, lekhavos haMilah. In se'if 3, the
Rama excludes the night of Lag baOmer for people who mourn on the last
days too.

And you need part of the 33rd day too, so that with miqtzas hayom kekulo
you have 33 days. The SA haRav (the only Chassidic code of halakhah I
have access to) agrees in 493:5 -- "aval laylah, afilu kulah, einah
kekhol hayom".

At some point a minhag originated to end the aveilus at tzeis. (And I
know it's at tzeis and not sheqi'ah because my nephew's wedding scheduled
later than the norm, this evening.)

I don't know the origin.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 32nd day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        4 weeks and 4 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Netzach sheb'Hod: What type of submission
Fax: (270) 514-1507                 really results in dominating others?