Dear Friends,
Our recent Shabbat discussions about the celebration of Holidays can fit into a greater Jewish tradition: How to deal with customs vs. laws. You might enjoy reading the article below from the Jewish Encyclopedia, in order to see how Rabbinic Judaism processes such controversies. Happy reading!
Love,
Rabbi David
CUSTOM (Minhag) (back to article)
By : Executive Committee of the Editorial Board. Julius H. Greenstone
An old and general usage, or a religious practise, not based on any particular Biblical passage, and which has, through the force of long observance, become as sacred and binding as laws instituted by the proper authorities."Custom always precedes law" (Soferim xiv. 18). This is true not only of the Talmudic laws prescribed by the Rabbis, but also of many Biblical institutions. Many statutes and commandments, civil, moral, and ecclesiastical, found on the pages of Scripture undoubtedly had their origin in the customs of the people, which, however, became modified and fixed by being inscribed on the sacred books. Some of the customs, as, for instance, circumcision, or the prohibition of eating blood or of eating the "sinew which shrank," may date back to patriarchal days; others, again, may have a later or perhaps a foreign origin.
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