<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">In Avodah Digest V23#64, Micha wrote:</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">> </font><tt><font size=2>A yekke
living in Elizabeth probably still waits only<br>
three hours after meat, washes his hands before qiddush, etc...<br>
> As pointed out on Areivim, this is mutar. The typical town is like
the<br>
talmudic case of one with two batei din. Although in Elizabeth, with REMT's<br>
say in the running of every facet of the kehillah, I find that a stretch.</font></tt><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
<</font>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">I can think of two different
ways of looking at this:</font>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">(a)</font>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">My following minhag avos
in private apparently doesn't create a "lo sisgod'du" [LS]-violating
agudah; as I'm sure Micha knows, whether violations of minhag in general
are a LS problem has been debated by pos'qim (e.g. see MA 493:6; also see
</font><font size=2 color=#800000 face="Verdana">http://www.torah.org/advanced/weekly-halacha/5760/kiseitzei.html</font><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">),
but even assuming they are, it would seem that public vs. private is a
valid distinction (consider how an adherent to YT Sheini handles the situation
when that day is publicly not YT). Apparently (REMT may want to respond
;-)), not wearing t'filin at an Elizabeth, NJ minyan during Chol haMoeid
also doesn't create an agudah, while not adhering to the minhagei aveilus
of the "second [set of] days" of y'mei S'firah (the minhag hamaqom
in Elizabeth) does (as per RMA 493:3) create an agudah -- among many possibilities,
perhaps the nafqa mina is abstaining from an activity (even a mitzvas asei)
vs. actively violating a standard (even if only a minhag hamaqom).</font>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">(b)</font>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">If the minhag hamaqom in
Elizabeth was to wait six hours or to wash only after making Qiddush, my
waiting three hours or washing before making Qiddush might very well be
a violation of LS; as there is no such minhag hamaqom, my following minhag
avos, even when less stringent than what is practiced by most of the community,
is not a violation. Similarly, there is no minhag Elizabeth with
regard to wearing t'filin on ChM (although the gabboim are instructed to
only allow t'filin wearers to be ba'alei t'filah). When there's no
minhag hamaqom, the next Q may be whether "al y'shaneh adam mip'nei
hamachloqes" is applicable -- here too, public activity vs. private
activity may be a valid distinction. (Q: does the mandate of "m'rutzeh
laqahal" for a ba'al t'filah get its halachic force from "al
y'shaneh"?)</font>
<br>
<br><font size=3 color=#000080 face="Verdana">All the best from</font>
<br><font size=4 color=blue face="Monotype Corsiva">Michael</font><font size=4 color=blue face="Verdana">
</font><font size=3 color=blue face="Verdana">"Yekke"</font><font size=4 color=blue face="Verdana">
</font><font size=4 color=blue face="Monotype Corsiva">Poppers</font><font size=4 color=blue face="Verdana">
</font><font size=3 face="Verdana">*</font><font size=4 color=blue face="Verdana">
</font><font size=4 color=blue face="EngraversGothic BT">Elizabeth, NJ,
USA</font>
<br>