By Rav Alberto Sermoneta
In the book of Bereshit, at chapter 26 verse 17, we find narrated an episode in which the Patriarch Isaac resumes a work of his father Abraham after having contested with the Philistines over wells dug by his father.
In the text we find written: “… and all the wells which his father Abraham's servants had dug, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth”. In the passage preceding the one just quoted, we are told that the Philistines, subjects of Abimelech, stole water from the wells, filling them with earth in order to cause serious harm to their enemies should they need water. Isaac went back to dig those wells, calling them by the same name his father had called them.
This passage comes to teach us that a man has the duty to behave in the same way as his forebears, never departing from their way of acting, exactly as the Patriarch Isaac did.
According to the teaching of our Masters, it is fundamental for the good of our identity never to depart from the traditions and customs of our forebears.
In the Shulchan ‘Arukh (joreh de’ah 366-4), the supreme code of Jewish law still accepted and studied by all Jews in the world, we find a very strong imperative which goes with the words: Minhag avotenu Torah hi, “ the custom of our fathers is law”. This teaching comes to bear witness to how fundamental minhag is even for the observance of the law- the halakhah.
Minhag is something that is apparently different from halakhah, which is conceived as something having a particular and binding force in Jewish society, so much so that it is considered the function of Jewish life.
Minhag, on the other hand, is the expression of the behavioural way to observe and put a given halakhah into practice.
It can undergo changes from country to country, and can even contribute to changing the way a given halakhah is observed; indeed, according to what is a Talmudic opinion, in some cases it has the force to annul a halakhah (Jerusalem Talmud: bavà metzi’à page 87 halakhah A)
Minhag arises from the life, or the condition, or the customs of Jews in a certain place on Earth, or even through the influence of local Rabbis, who operate in a community according to their system or the needs of that place. One can thus find different minhaghim from one community to another, even when close to each other.
The masters of the Talmud decreed that: “in places where there is the custom to act in a certain way in observing the halakhah, one should continue to do so, never changing the custom that prevails in that place”.
The maxim maintaining that no man should ever change the minhag of the place is attributed to a Master of the Talmud (bavà mezi’à 86 b) Rabbi Tanchum ben Chanilai, because it was so regarding the three Angels who presented themselves to Abraham, showing themselves as if they were eating and drinking, respecting the custom of men, whereas Moses, who ascended to heaven into the divine presence, stayed without eating and drinking for forty days and forty nights, exactly as is customary in that Place.
Therefore, precisely for what was cited above, minhag is not changed for any reason, even if it is in contrast with the rules of halakhah, so as not to transgress what the Masters of Israel teach, namely not to speak ill of things done by the ancient Masters.
In the Talmud (T.B. berakhot 45 a; Pesachin 66 a), we are taught that whenever there was a doubt about the interpretation of a rule, people used to say: “go out and see how people behave”.
The Pachad Izchak, an encyclopedia of Jewish law by Isaac Lampronti (Ferrara), maintains that the force of minhag is so great that it even goes as far as to uproot halakhah.
There are some minhaghim that particularly concern women during the course of the year regarding their specific jobs such as:
1) not doing any kind of work at the exit of the Sabbath, so as to prolong the Sabbath atmosphere even after its end. Of this custom, described in the MAGHEN AVRAHAM para. 299- 15 and reported in the name of AVUDHARAM, testimonies are still found in some communities
In the Roman Jewish Community, for example, it is still in use not to work (sewing, ironing, etc.) for the entire duration of the day, even after the exit of the Sabbath, and to distinguish it from ordinary women's work, it was customary to sew on mozzaè shabbat the tachrichim, namely that sort of linen tunics which serve to dress the deceased before their burial. For this reason, abstaining from work at the exit of the Sabbath would be considered a superstitious sign of good omen.
2) not doing any kind of work on the new moon.
3) not doing any kind of work from the moment the counting of the omer takes place; that is, from the moment the blessing is recited for the whole night. This for the entire period of forty-nine days.
4) not doing any work during the period when the Chanukkah lights are lit.
Just as there have been Masters who defended minhag and its strict observance, so there have been others who tried in every way to nullify its existence, denigrating and criticising it in every way.
Rabbenu Tam, a famous master and Talmudic commentator, dwells at length on the importance or otherwise of minhaghim and arrives at the conclusion, maintaining that they are entirely harmful to the observance of the precepts.
He maintains that by anagrammatising the word M I N H A G, G H (e )I NAM would derive from it, which according to a tradition of Jewish mysticism would be the place where the souls of sinners go down after death.
Through this interpretation, he gives no room for its existence, decreeing that their observance can do nothing other than be harmful.
Most Masters, on the other hand, maintain that minhag in general is nothing other than the most elegant form to transmit the culture of the Jewish people to posterity and that, despite the Diaspora, it has managed to stay attached to its life traditions, firmly tied to the Torah, but which have assumed a style more suited to the places of their diasporic residence.
The older the Jewish presence in a community, the higher the quality and quantity of minhaghim.
The more a community is attached to its minhaghim, the less risk one runs of assimilation and extinction.
From all this it can be inferred that minhag is the custom of the Jewish collectivity, both in Israel and in the rest of the world, which finds its origin in halachah and Talmudic literature and which, while distinguishing the customs of one community from another, has kept and still keeps alive the spirit that characterises the Jewish people.