THE OTHER DAY, AS I WAS considering the differences in traditions among observant Jews it struck me that some mitzvoth have been canceled by some rabbis.
I will be one of the first to admit that without rabbinical rulings in the talmuds — things such as the prosbul1 for commercial loans — life would be difficult indeed.
HOWEVER, I think “the rabbis” have gone to far in countermanding the Torah.
Herewith the usual caveat: I am not a rabbi and I don’t play one on tv.
Cohanic blessing (ברכת הכהנים)
Every sedur in my house, even before the midnight prayers (תיקון חצות) and as part of the opening morning prayers (ברכת השחר) tells the cohanim (Numbers Parashat Naso, Chap. 6, Ver. 22 - 27 (במדבר נשא ו’ כ”ב – כ”ז) that HaShem told Moses to Speak to the Aaron and his sons: You will bless the children of Israel; you will say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace. So shall they put my name upon the children of Israel.
I fail to read where HaShem says that the cohanim should only bless the congregation on certain holy days or if they felt like it. (The image at the right by Leonard Cohen and appears in his work The Flame)
But some rabbis have declared that this mitzvah — commandment — is omitted during normal weekdays and Shabatot.
Sefardi cohanim bless the people every day and twice on Shabat and haggim (when there is musaf, the “extra” service).
Not so Ashkenazim.
On what grounds?
Well, we don’t know who really IS a cohen. OK, so why allow these suspect cohanim to bless the people at all. Are they, like Kosher for Passover, only “kosher” cohanim on certain days?
Single cohanim are prohibited from blessing the congregation in some traditions. Why? Well, the rabbis insist, an unmarried man cannot be happy and a cohen must be happy when he blesses the congregation.
There ARE some Torah limits that preclude a cohen from blessing the people. From the Torah, if the cohen has a “mum,” a physical defect that would distract the congregation from the blessing’s words or if the cohen married a divorced woman. An inebriated cohen is forbidden from blessing the people.
There are a number of other situations when a cohen either is prohibited from blessing the people or is excused.2 If a cohen doesn’t want to bless the people, for whatever reason, he is expected to step outside until the willing cohanim have returned to their places.
Some congregations allow, and others prohibit, pre-bar mitzvah boys to perform the rite, others allow it if the child goes up with his father.
Where to stand, where to look
According to most authorities, only people standing in front of the cohanim are included in the blessing.
Many Sefardi cohanim partially turn to the left and to the right during the blessing, to expand the number or people receiving the blessing. I have not seen Ashkenazi cohanim do this, but then I don’t belong to an Ashkenazi minyan.
Many people have the custom of covering their head and eyes during the cohen’s blessing; others look down. This is to preclude looking at the cohanim. Some people mistakenly turn their backs to the cohanim; this is disrespectful both to the cohenim and the sefri Torah in the ark before which the cohanim stand, and it is questionable if these people are included in the blessing.
There is a custom that father’s cover their sons (and very young daughters, too,) heads with the father’s large tallit during the blessing.(Right) I have done this for my two sons and my son-in-law. (Since the boys now are much taller than their father, they have to bend over a little — else I would have to stand on a chair.) There also is room for my grandsons when we are together.
Tefillin (תפילין)
We read it everyday.
In fact, we read it several times a day.
(במדבר ו, 8-9) וקשרתם לאת על-ידך והיו לטטפת בין עיניך
You shall bind them as a sign upon hand, and they shall be a reminder between your eyes. (Deuteronomy, Parashat V’Ethchanan, Chap. 6, Ver. 8-9)
That does not seem like multiple choice.
The rabbis decided that Shabatot are sufficiently happy that these signs are redundant; unnecessary.
Ditto the first and last days of haggim (שלוש רגלים).
Sefardi hakhamim decided that the intermediate days of a festival are as happy as the first and last days. After all, it is eat, sleep, pray, repeat. Given that, unlike the Ashkenazim, Sefardim go about sans the sign on the hand and reminders between the eyes.
A Sefardi in an Ashkenazi congregation may be asked to either put on tefillin or go pray elsewhere. (I have never seen an Ashkenazi wearing tefillin on hol ha’moed asked to leave the room where Sefardim are “davening.”)
The general rule is, “when in Rome…” — if you are in a Sefardi congregation, behave like a Sefardi; in an Ashkenazi “shul,” act like an Ashkenazi.
There is an on-going debate: May a Sefardi use Ashkenazi tefillin?
There are those who say NO.
There are those who say in a pinch, yes.
Not having an Ashkenazi tradition, I don’t know how the majority of Ashkenazi rabbis rule.
The problem is the amount of space, or lack of same, between two paragraphs of the Shema in the tefillin.
Is either the Sefardi or Ashkenazi way to wrap tefillin correct? In a word: Yes.
Different traditions wrap tefillin differently.
As Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof would bellow: TRADITION!
An aside. When do Moroccan women put on tefillin? On a Monday or Thursday prior to a boy’s first Shabat aliyah it is the custom that the women in his life — mother, sisters, aunts — each make one “turn” of the hand tefillin strap as the boy is about to enter the minyan area. The question was not “When do Moroccan women wear tefillin,” but when do they put on tefillin.3
Parting thought
What brought about the destruction of the Second Temple?
What allegedly caused the plague that killed 24,000 (!) of R. Akiva ben Yosef's students?
Unjustified hatred and speaking ill of others.
In Avot (Chap. 2, Ver. 13 – 14) we learn what R. Akiva considered what is good and what is evil. Consider the words of R. Elazar that R. Akiva found satisfactory.
Sources
1. Hillel the Elder in the 1st century BCE created the prosbul to permit private loans to persons in need without fear on the lender's part that the debt would be legally abrogated at the end of the sabbatical year. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/prosbul)
2. Prohibitions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priestly_Blessing
3. Women and tefillin: footnote 13 on Page 62 of סידור אבותנו ע"פ חכמי מורוקו
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