OUR MINYAN TODAY (it was the second day of Sukot) hit a rough spot.
Mostly we are a bunch of easy going men; it’s a mixture of Sefardim and Ashkenazim. But today, failing to learn from the past, the person who organized the minyan committed the faux pas of his predecessor.
WHAT OUTRAGE DID THIS MAN CAUSE?
He had the hazan tell us the ”correct” way to wave the lulav.
UNFORTUNATELY, how the lulav is waved is a matter of MINHAG.
There is an Ashkenazi way.
There is a North African way.
There is a “Yerushalmi” way.
I am sure there are sub-sets of each of the above and many I don’t know about.
A year ago we had a different person at the helm and he made the same mistake.
“You must do it the Yerushalmi way.” (He was ignored and later left to form his own minyan. We wish him success with the blessing for the czar.)
Not “this is the Yerushalmi way,” but this is the way it will be done.
The former “helmsman” and the current “helmsman” often were at odds despite having the same general background.
Its is not that the Yerushalmi way is “wrong,” or that the other ways are wrong.
I follow Moroccan minhag.
I have two sedurim: וזרח השמש and אבותינו . BOTH books tell me that “in this city and surrounding area, people do it this way, while in another area people do it differently.”
Never mind that BOTH places are in Morocco.
I also have, thanks to my Syrian brother-in-law (once removed), a copy of R. Israel Meir Lau's excellent יחדות הלכה למעשה that addresses issues from multiple traditions. (R. Lau was Chief (Ashkenazi) Rabbi of Israel and has the respect of observant Jews of all types.)
If a former chief rabbi can accommodate/recognize minhagim other than his own, surely our minyan “helmsman” — an otherwise nice enough fellow — can do the same.
If the rabbinical luminaries in Morocco — and there are many — and Israel can do likewise for those who follow Moroccan traditions, it seems to me that we all should follow their lead and be accepting of different minhagim.
I will concede that a Sefardi or Mizrachi Jew needs to keep a sharp eye on the Ashkenazi standing next o him since the Ashkenazi — rather than turning around and around as the Sefardi and Mizrachi do, at some point waves his lulav over his shoulder — possibly a dangerous move to anyone standing nearby.
As long as no one is injured by a waving lulav, what is wrong with a mix of minhagim in a small congregation?
True, the basic rule is that everyone “follows the rov (majority),” and I know of an Orthodox Ashkenazi rabbi who chases Sefardim and Mizrachim out of his minyan during hol ha’moed because Ashkenazim don tefillin during those days and Sefaridim don’t. (On the other hand, Ashkenazim don a tallit when leading minhah and marariv (aravet). Should they be banned from a mostly-Sefardi minyan?) If you have a basic minyan and you banish anyone, there goes the minyan and THAT is everyone’s loss.
Some Ashkenazim build sukot with sold wood walls so the wind will not move them. Sefaridim often use colorful sheets. (Did anyone have solid walls when we wandered around the midbar (wilderness) for 40 years? I suppose the question could be asked: “Did we have colorful kingsize sheets back then?”)
When did we ‐ Jews — become so narrow-minded that we cannot accommodate other traditions as long as they are within basic halacah?
We manage to (more or less) accommodate different pronunciations of Hebrew, even if sometimes the meaning is questionable. I’m referring not only to the variations between Ashkenazi Hebrew and Sephardi Hebrew, but between Yemenite Hebrew as well.
Making an issue of how to wave a lulav, especially in a mixed minyan is, to my mind שטיות ומיץ עגבניות.
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