How much critical thinking is healthy when confronting a questionable
Minhag
Mimetic
Humra
Etc.
Illustrations:
1. Tur assumes Shabbat Hagadol stems from taking the lamb on the 10th of Nissan
2 SA takes mourning during Sefirat Ho'omer as stemming from R Akiva.
3. Rema says N'siat kappayim is limited to days of Simchah
4 We cover mirrors @ a shiva. The common reason given is due to sheidim.
5. We don't eat nuts on R"H. The folk reason is gemat'ria of "heit".
How do we approach these cases -
1 Since the reason given is silly therefore the underlying practice is silly?
2. We un-critically accept the practices and their reasons as axiomatically correct?
3. We accept the custom as correct and critically question their popular Rationale?
4. We accept the Rationale and we feel free to Revise the practice?
Shalom,
RRW
4 comments:
Where's the question of the day?
Garnel:
Who says there has to be a question every day/
I do, though, have a message for you from naomi. She loves your answers but wonders:
what's your question?
RBH
K'vod HaRav, "Question of the day" implies that if there's a day, there will be a question.
As for my question, well as a Leafs fan I can only ask: Will next season be THE season?
Or the latest post at my blog also asks a question.
Back to the post...
I am reminded of the post on R' Garnel's post blog in which MO vs RW is recast to be more about autonomy vs rabbinic authority than about modernity. I disagree with the thesis -- chareidim still relate to modernity differently, and many mod-O relate to RYBS and RHS in ways that remind me of "daas Torah". But there are still differing tendencies.
A New Approach To Modern Orthodoxy - By Michael J Schweitzer.
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