[Avodah] Mistaken Minhagim

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Feb 11, 2020 at 09:17:50AM +0000, Jay F. Shachter via Avodah wrote:
> There are other mistaken minhagim which originated, not in the hamon
> `am, but in the scholarly class themselves, and which are not condemned
> by the scholarly class, because they benefit the scholarly class. An
> example of this category is the practice of earning a living from
> teaching Torah sheb`al peh, which is clearly forbidden by Jewish law.

Well, that last clause is an assumption. We don't always hold like
the Rambam.

There is ample precedent across a number of mitzvos of allowing payment
of sekhar bitul. The Rambam says that talmud Torah is different because
of the prohibition against turning the Torah into a qardom lachopor bo.
(Avos 4:5) But many commentaries on Avos 4:5 disagree, limiting the
prohibition to payment for the TT itself. E.g. RO miBartenura allows a
teacher of children to be paid for babysitting and how to use te'amim
for punctuation. (Me, I would have thought that latter was Torah, but
the Bartenura disagrees apparently.)

R Chaim Volozhiner (ad loc) asks how this relates to "im ein Torah ein
qemach". Given the other mishnah, how can it be assur to use the Torah
to make your daily bread?

Bereishis Rabba 99:9 is quoted by Rashi on Devarim 33:18 "semach Zevulun
betzeisekha, veYissachar beOhalekha". Quoted by kollel supporters often
enough. So I'll just provide the key phrase in the original:
    Zevulun ... mistakeir venosein lesokh piv shel Yissachar
    veheim yoshevim ve'osqim baTorah

A couple of Rashi's later, Rashi uses Bereishis Rabba 72:5 to prove that
Yissachar headed the Sanhedrin and set the calendar. So, maybe they're
paid for the auxiliary services learning enables they're paid for,
and not the learning itself.

Thinking out loud:
The Chinukh (#395) says that maaser rishon was for Hashem's Kavod,
that it would be wrong for His servants to be impoverished. Which is
a way for others to serve HQBH as well without turning avodas H' into
a qardom lachapor bo. And it would explain the poetic cicumlocution
instead of just "don't take pay".

But the above argument isn't about allowing payment if the attitude toward
it is Hashem-centered. I just think the Rambam goes further than most in
prohibiting payment for aspects of kollel life other than the learning
itself. And the famous medrash about Yissachar-Zevulun does support that
"most".



On to a very different topic, same subject line...

On Tue, Feb 11, 2020 at 01:20:47PM -0500, Cantor Wolberg via Avodah wrote:
> I recall in my youth that there were individuals who
> consistently stood for the entire leining. I would
> assume that was their minhag.

My father does so. (Consistently, until he became an octogenarian.
Amu"sh.)

My father got this practice from RYBS. It is the minhag of beis Brisk,
not the Bergers. Which makes sense, given Brisk's attention to the Rambam,
and as R Sholom Simon wrote on Tue, 11 Feb 11:43am EST about standing
for the diberos:
>                                        he Rambam also held that we never
> change the trop. And so, lishitaso, this makes sense. since he holds that
> we should always leyn aseres hadibros in ta'am tachton, and so it appears
> we are placing more importance on one part of the Torah above other parts.

> My understanding, further, is that RYBS concluded that when we leyn with
> ta'am elyon then it becomes clear that we are re-enacting kabalos haTorah,
> in which case it's perfectly fine to stand.

Except that RYBS resolved the question in the other way -- stood for
everything.

Of course, RYBS agreed that iqar hadin was to sit, and therefore would
still find need to defend the minhag of only standing for the diberos.

Which gets us back to "mistaken minhagim"... We use minhag to mean
    a- pesaqim specific to a community
    b- practices following knowing they're lifnim mishuras hadin
    c- ... anything else?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Man can aspire to spiritual-moral greatness
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   which is seldom fully achieved and easily lost
Author: Widen Your Tent      again. Fulfillment lies not in a final goal,
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF    but in an eternal striving for perfection. -RSRH