Request

[Israel Chai]

Perhaps you didn't notice he's baal teshuva...

The rule is to follow the minhag of your fathers and other Ravs have poskimed that you follow the minhagim of the people you make teshuva with, and Rav Ovadia Yosef poskimed you go with the majority in the area. You can't do anything without permission, but I have Rabbis to count on if I want to go Ashky, Sephardi, or Lubavitch.

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

The rule is to follow the minhag of your fathers and other Ravs have poskimed that you follow the minhagim of the people you make teshuva with, and Rav Ovadia Yosef poskimed you go with the majority in the area. You can't do anything without permission, but I have Rabbis to count on if I want to go Ashky, Sephardi, or Lubavitch.

It's not such a weighty issue in my opinion and the widely disparate views demonstrates that since it's very unclear.  I think the ikkar of all these views on this issue is the practicality,not religiosity , and that's how it should be. The whole point of minhag of nusach and things like that which tend to vary from household to household (details, not minhag in the true halachic sense, the word minhag is used liberally) is it's passed as a tradition in one's family.  As a BT there was no longer a living tradition in my family so I'm not discarding anything by doing any particular thing.   Like you, my family came from many different places, but I also don't think that matters as much as people make it out to matter.  I am no longer in any of those places.

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Also sometimes people mean different things when they say kavanah so just ti clarify what I meant, simply focusing on the words ii am saying and their straight forward meaning, so that I am truly speaking to God and not just reciting something or checking off a list.  Sounds very simple but this is a daily challenge and can sometimes not be very easy to achieve.  This is an active battle and it must be waged.

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

Minhag in the truest sense is in the LOCATION of a place. If in a certain place, (city, maybe even big neighborhood or even inside a Shul) certain things are expected and said to be like that, if it doesn't contradict Halacha then it can be categorized as a Minhag. For example let's say that in a certain city they decide that they will make a limit on the amount of the price of a wedding (so that people do not overspend their money on these things and instead focus more on having more children and not being bogged down in debt, and/or not embarrassing the people that have less money and cannot afford extravagant weddings) . This would be a Minhag of that particular city. Those who move into this city are expected to follow its Minhagim and Takanot.

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

Also sometimes people mean different things when they say kavanah so just ti clarify what I meant, simply focusing on the words ii am saying and their straight forward meaning, so that I am truly speaking to God and not just reciting something or checking off a list.  Sounds very simple but this is a daily challenge and can sometimes not be very easy to achieve.  This is an active battle and it must be waged.

 That definitely is good and desirable. I would personally suggest though that for starters when reading the Tefillah (Shemono Esri) to first focus on getting to know the main idea of each paragraph. For example Barecheinu- about Parnasa, Refaeinu- about healing, etc. First to focus on the main idea of each paragraph and then to "close in the gaps" and know the words individually, paragraph by paragraph.

[muman613]

I may have asked this before, and if I did, sorry...

What do you guys think of the 'interlinear' siddurs which have Hebrew above and English below each word? I have an Artscroll Interlinear siddur and it is helpful in understanding the davening (when first learning)...





http://artscroll.com/Books/9781578196975.html

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Minhag in the truest sense is in the LOCATION of a place. If in a certain place, (city, maybe even big neighborhood or even inside a Shul) certain things are expected and said to be like that, if it doesn't contradict Halacha then it can be categorized as a Minhag. For example let's say that in a certain city they decide that they will make a limit on the amount of the price of a wedding (so that people do not overspend their money on these things and instead focus more on having more children and not being bogged down in debt, and/or not embarrassing the people that have less money and cannot afford extravagant weddings) . This would be a Minhag of that particular city. Those who move into this city are expected to follow its Minhagim and Takanot.

Yeah this is the definition of minhag in halacha, but other things people do customarily (for example, different practices regarding mayim acharonim, or different order of prayer, or small detailed things which all fit within the parameters of halacha but there could be a hundred ways of doing it) people also refer to as minhagim.   

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

I may have asked this before, and if I did, sorry...

What do you guys think of the 'interlinear' siddurs which have Hebrew above and English below each word? I have an Artscroll Interlinear siddur and it is helpful in understanding the davening (when first learning)...





http://artscroll.com/Books/9781578196975.html

I love the interlinear and I think it really helps not only for learning Hebrew but also maintaining focus on what you are saying.   I find myself sometimes having memorized the Hebrew, saying it because I'm so accustomed to it now I can recite the Hebrew by heart but not really fully grasping it since it's a second language.   Whereas with interlinear, I can pray in Hebrew but still my eyes can glance at the English at the same time and I have more kavanah that way, more consistently knowing what the Hebrew means as I'm saying it.

[Israel Chai]

I may have asked this before, and if I did, sorry...

What do you guys think of the 'interlinear' siddurs which have Hebrew above and English below each word? I have an Artscroll Interlinear siddur and it is helpful in understanding the davening (when first learning)...

http://artscroll.com/Books/9781578196975.html

If you can read Hebrew, it helps a lot, but reading it in English, the sentences after the arrow don't really make sense, it's like Yoda wrote it.

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

Yeah this is the definition of minhag in halacha, but other things people do customarily (for example, different practices regarding mayim acharonim, or different order of prayer, or small detailed things which all fit within the parameters of halacha but there could be a hundred ways of doing it) people also refer to as minhagim.

 I know people commonly refer to it as "minhag", but the example you brought is more likely an interpretation of Halacha. Their are those who say that one must do it fully like in the olden days (Rav Bar-Hayim for example) and one takes a cup and washes just like for Al Letilat Yadayim. Their are those who say it isn't needed at all these days mainly because of the danger of the salts not being a danger any longer (I believe Rav Moshe Feinstein) and their are those who in theory agree with the latter but only wash a little as a minhag and a remembrance.

[Sveta]

Out of curiosity, are you going to skip Lecha Dodi, since that is Kabalistic in origin?

[muman613]

The writer of the Lecha Dodi song was a Kabbalist, but the tradition of greeting the Sabbath bride is a concept from the Talmud.

http://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/475695/jewish/Lecha-Dodi.htm


This mystical hymn to the Shabbat was composed by the kabbalist Rabbi Alkabetz (c. 5260-5340) who was the teacher as well as the brother-in-law of the famed kabbalist Rabbi Moshe Cordovero. Rabbi Alkabetz was one of the members of the esteemed Safed circle of scholars and mystics, which included Rabbi Yosef Caro, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero and Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the holy Ari. The author signed his name - Shlomo HaLevi - in the acrostic formed by the first letter of the first eight stanzas of the hymn.

One of the themes of the hymn - preparing oneself to greet the Shabbat - is based on the Talmud’s account of how the Sages would welcome the Holy Day (Shabbat 119a): Rabbi Chanina would wrap himself in his cloak and say, “Come, let us go and greet the Shabbat Queen.” Rabbi Yannai would don his robe and say, “Enter O bride! Enter, O bride! ”

The holy Ari included this hymn in his edition of the siddur, and thus it eventually became an integral part of the Shabbat liturgy of Jewish communities everywhere.

Click below for our new, original, rhyming translation

[Israel Chai]

Out of curiosity, are you going to skip Lecha Dodi, since that is Kabalistic in origin?

Yeah well I like that one and we do it all together. It's a discovery now that it's not kaballistic, though the discussion I never finished on what exactly the shabbat queen or bride is supposed to be was ultimately kaballah-heavy, and as usual I came to a thousand epiphanies before getting past a sentence in the explanation, and if I was studying full time I'd maybe come to understand it, but I don't have access to study partners anywhere near enough to really learn kabalistic concepts in depth.

[Israel Chai]

Oh and to even mention the war I started with my family situation, I'd have to know where to start.