[Mesorah] New Shtick

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R. Rich Wolpoe wrote:

> It's become obvious to me since R Hofmeister published
> his siddur, that the Nusach Ashkenaz at EG KAJ is not the
> "pristine" Nusach Ashkenaz of the Rishonim.

My opinion is that this is a highly emotionally charged issue, and we are easily thrown off-track by the adjectives we choose to use. For example, someone else might have ended the above line with comments like:

... is not the original Nusach Ashkenaz of the Rishonim.
... is not the basic Nusach Ashkenaz of the Rishonim.
... is not the undeveloped Nusach Ashkenaz of the Rishonim.

>From where does anyone get the idea that the nusach of any one particular time period is better than that of any other? I'm not saying that such choices are wrong, only that we should lay our cards on the table with specific criteria to explain WHY one is better than another. What makes the nusach of the Rishonim better or worse than the nusach of the Acharonim or of the Geonim?

Our way of life was never intended to be d'Oraisa-only. Rather, many processes have evolved to add to our halacha and develop it. Similarly, I think that the siddur of the Anshei Knesses Hagdola should also be looked on only as a starting point, for future generations to add on to.

So too, any particular siddur of any particular century -- what are the pros and cons of leaving it locked forever in that same text?

It seems obvious TO ME that change is inevitable, and generally good. The catchword is "generally" -- we need leaders who can show us which changes are good and which are not, and IMHO those leaders are the only ones who should answer RRW's questions, and similar questions.

Akiva Miller

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