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Minhagei Lita L ..... iii ..• I .I .1 I. .·.11:· wi ; I Til . VII IlICJ T ...[ J. ........ J. ... LliIF iL.~'.ILnH I 13 II Minhagei Lita Customs of Lithuanian Jewry And a Litvishe Rav's Perspective on Life and Halachah ""lIIiiIIII< III ..oiiI!iIIlJ - ...", .. Contents ...­ .­... Preface...... ... Backgro~=-_ :: .. Introductio=-_ ~,: ...­ .. Changing ~.~ .. The Shat::.::~ .. Tzdakah =-.:.: .. The Orde:­ ==­ ...­ Handli.ng ::-:. ~ ..... Kaddish.. .. Shabbos .. ""!III! ...­ Rosh ChO::~5J .. Yom To"\'- . .. Selichos... .. Yamim !\-:,::-::..:..:: 4 .. Hoshana .?~-: 1 Rabbi Manuel M. Poliakoff .. Hazkarar_s ~.~:: '.oI!III! ~ 3737 Clarks Lane Parashas Z:::::: Baltimore, Maryland 21215 Laws and C-,,:,s::J (410) 358-5557 Proper Co=-_::-...:.c Parading P:. ~~.­ © Copyright 2008 Rabbi Manuel M. Poliakoff Chillul Has:-.~:::J Tzitzis...... Gartel..... Payos (Side =-:.: Clothing .... Upsherrer:. • Glatt Kosl-. e::­ •<IIIIi ••,. Eruv........ ,.• ',iIIIII Minhagei Lito .'.. .lIIIII "IIL "1IIIIIi.IIIIIII,11 II Wi I IT! ILl tLlnl '. .£USEU"L-, - );;~-¥!j _-"'Ii. - -~-¥~"';'=--m::-"'~'".. """""~--~-~~~__ !!liI!!qj!ljIJ.IIlrlIIIUI.IJUilJU U •. II .1 , • '_lIn~.!"'lll I .111 I ••1 "...!llilll 1.11.111.1.. ,I - '!illlllllllllIilIl!.il!UllIJiUttl 't IlinIH..,[ Jill WII II lIP "_ '-'"P~~~~-"'4____ 'ill~'llfilllllll!.11iI1I1111[1UI1· '•.. 11 •. 111 1 ... --~._.;e;r ­ t- :J-.~ .-o......_:=-:::=-?:'"-~ =:--.,~~! '.OII.III.IIIIII·O[T.. IIli11'.M. • ~d£_ ·4~ -:""""""'---~. ---..~ ",~"" - serve as an incentive for others who also remember Litvishe customs to come forward and help to fill in the gaps. I would like to note that for the most part, I treat Minhagei Lita as a homogenous entity. Lithuania itself had several strains of minhagim, one of which was Minhag Zamut. (Zamut was a region of Lithuania, of which Telshe was the J: capital.) However, the differences between these minhagim were slight, almost negligible, even ifthey felt very real for the residents of different parts of Lithuania of the time. Background A commonly-held fallacy is that only within the geographical borders of today's Lithuania did the various Jewish communities observe the Lithuanian customs. The truth is Minhag Lita prevailed throughout most of Eastern Europe, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, Lithuania at Her Greatest Extent including Belarusia (White Russia) and substantial sections of Poland. Later, Chassidic groups living in Poland adopted Minhag Sfarad to differentiate between themselves and the general Minhagei Lita Preface I5 ---"""""'" body of East European Jewry who were not Chassidim and e\-t:-'.. :J who maintained the minhag and nusach of Lita. It is plainly anee:: :::.:: obvious that Minhag Lita was one of the most widespread minhagim upheld by European Jewry. , ~ '- -, Since the end of the Second World War, there have been ana __ - :1 numerous deviations from many of the authentic Lithuanian cor.::-::::­ customs. This is largely because most of Lithuanian Jewry ;;. was annihilated or displaced during the war. Communities a were disbanded, and there was no longer any continuity in ",,-her:. ~:-_.=.:; practicing the traditions and customs constituting Minhag 8..:"-:: --~ Lita. -" fift\ C,-;:­ Today, most people rely upon books to try to reconstruct desl::-'::_ :~ ': the Lithuanian customs, because the living mesorah was - ':::"',-" unfortunately lost. As a result, what is now perceived as j Minhag Lita contains many deviations from what Lithuanian Jewry had truly followed. his -~-es:-_:'.-3 Ironically, one cause of confusion about Minhagei Lita toms ':::.. was the Gaon of Vilna zt"l. His erudition was way beyond -:-::J i\Iish'_,: ;­ anyone else's in his generation, and his custo:-:-_ ­ prestige was over­ anor::.~:_ s whelming. Yet when 1":-~:3 -::=. his decisions and Je\\is:: _, recommendations ran counter to the cheris::.': _ traditionally accepted imeci-: c.-_ , The Telshe Yeshivah Building minhagim, no one zeaio-.::s>' adopted them-not ----~---------~ ..... ~~{1'S .;__ : 2--: ~ 'lIIii.Jnii 6 IPreface .. ~ Minhagei Lita 1111.'. -- !!ii, -- V ,!Ii i __ ;:<,·!!§!i~__ ··._¥'F_·,-,s:_ :>,!!>,';'-':"~-;::'~-~~~~'> IUA 1,.,..,... 1 iIIlRUJII,Mlll I' .I. L I I J I II .1 I lIId Jt~" iii;HllliIl1l1fllilliUU til .01 dl., J. Lf(g rln U 11 . uilln ] .flllfnO JEt!IU!t....,~_.!. ""."'•." ""',~ ___",_,x,,.,,,,,, , ". .-t.' L¥t.#$ti¥ .. D.3,, __ ' -'A _,J"'~~__~~~ even in his home town, Vilna. I will note some of these vari­ ances as we come across them. Another cause of deviations from Lithuanian custom was the Chafetz Chaim zt"l, who included a number of decisions and recommendations in his Mishnah Bernrah that were contrary to the prevailing custom, often without explicitly stating so. As long as there were Jews in Lithuania to provide ::.: __ ~s a living example, this was not a problem. Today however, when these communities unfortunately no longer exist, peo­ ple are unable to determine the original custom. During the fifty years after publication of the Mishnah Bernrah until the destruction of Lithuanian Jewry, communities did not adopt those decisions and recommendations of the Mishnah Bernrah that ran counter to the traditionally accepted minhagim. Not even in Radin, where the Chafetz Chaim had his Yeshivah, did the community change the traditional cus­ toms in favor of those urged by the Chafetz Chaim. Hence, many people today mistakenly assume that whatever the Mishnah Bernrah recommended must have been the accepted L,._ _ __ :::: custom in Lithuania. Again, I will point out some of these _ ._~s anomalies as we come upon them. This teaches us how careful we must be in preserving Jewish customs. The Torah requires us to respect and maintain minhagim just as the earlier generations loved and cherished them. The fundamental principle of Al titosh toras imecha-Do not forsake the teachings of your mother3 was zealously upheld throughout the Jewish world. 3 Mishlei 1:8 Minhagei Lita Preface I7 ~""" Today's generation is confused, searching to find the real Introdl Minhag Lita from among the many existing customs. I hope I T--.::, will be able to dispel some of this confusion by delineating its CL:S:J the authentic Lithuanian customs regarding a number of old _;:-_~ select areas, the first of which will be tefillah. metic":':': methe :::~ ness. and :::. Be('a---=~~ Yesh:-';:j toms -: tunes ~'..:J ate 1:: :':;J Litcis :­ text. :-::-: of. I :.. ::. ml 3:: from .'-. ~ ..: text, '-j us i: 8 IPreface Minhagei Lita JIi7;:' ,fii Ain5QJII.C'·lmcr .. ~-·- "I'.JIiI)liliU lin .illuUI'M _.it'll...! ..L'.'.! .. -"'"".......-.. "._=c '. ' -'-~m~1 .~!IlIlIIilnIlllIJlnIL . .1] II! I III' , _. A '-~--""-",,~~., %_~ '.IIIIIIIJ.·•• U1W,U I, J.. '.. • . ..' U ] L. a. E.>I'i! .ft .•., ......·,"",._,·w '" ---'-_"~'_m~'-'---1 e !IIIIIIIII!IIi-IIJlIlllllIll .. ! tll-. n: ." ._', I lIlT • k -". ,,"".,., ."h."·'" m': .•"~0'~~_'7I,~-1 illIIIlJ WI II lUll . I II It I ..ilL .IL.· $ '1 4 3 I. .21... I!. ,,'.~_.u.. """¥'~",40'_-1 1h2IiiIIIiiI!II. Jlitllrl.1111 ill 11 Lr.··r jj. U'•.II . r 1 r _J . l?~'!LJE·.!L. ··"CO!. ........_ %F"~~" .-~ .-'--. -- ~~~_. __ ."",.,",:,,,,=i:;"";:;,,,,"~~.oa;;._';;:'.~,,~·-,",-~"""":':'..,,"-=~-~·~··~- ~~~.~.~'"""~.~'~-~=- 2 _. 71 1 • ·--~.q.r .. I iliF J ill 11111 111. •• __ ( 1_ llin tJ. TIIIJ .1 --.-""---~~~,=.::---~=:,=£=",-----~~"""",~ ~-" !.~_~::_.!_---_--~2~,!,="""","__7 I t nvn. I ·.1 ',mil.: l.'---­ Laws and Customs ~ -I'm C)'. ,~£ A basic difference existed between the Jews of greater 11••1111 . , lli.l.. n!ii$ Lithuania and other European Jews which led to many differ­ ~, ~j ences in halachah and cus­ g~ 1F .~. toms as I shall attempt to "The virulently militant Reform point out. This difference was movements triggered a caused by the European Jews strong orthodox reaction in reaction to two antithetical the Torah-true communities." forces in Jewish life---the Reform movement on the one hand and the Chassidic movement on the other. The Lithuanian community however, did not undergo these pressures and the changes they engendered, as I will explain. The virulently militant Reform movements in Hungary, Germany, and Austria triggered a strong conservative Ortho­ dox reaction in the Torah-true communities of those countries. Note: Do not be confused by the use of the word "conser­ vative.» It has nothing to do with the conservative Reform movement with which we are so familiar today that we call simply, Conservative. I am referring to a conservative Ortho­ dox reaction to the liberal Reform, which we today call simply Reform. Most Jews today have no idea how far the Reform move­ ment strayed from Jewish tradition. The Reform denied the Divinity of Torah, as they still do, changed the day of rest from Shabbos to Sunday, abolished bris milah, and declared that they did not look forward to a return to Eretz Yisrael, to mention only a few of their doctrines. Later, they forced the Minhagei Lita Laws and Customs I53 notoriously devastating alteration in the wording of the Bal­ Hasks",':1 four Declaration, changing Palestine from the National Jew­ move:::-.,e::J ish Homeland to a National Jewish Homeland. This seemingly religio',,:s minor modification has caused Jews the world over so much contic.:;:'i blood, tears, agony until this day. Had the wording remained dema:::' ; "the," no one else could have ventured to lay claim to the O~e I land. However, with the wording "a," others had an excuse to in Liti::'_ 3 assert their claims to it. The Reform cannot even begin to Lita ,\':e::-f repent enough for this crime against the Jewish People. We the R&'-:'j do not condemn the common Reform Jew because he was in SC1::::3 misled; the condemnation applies to the movement's so­ to dec::'!: called rabbis and leaders. direct>: This radical Reform movement aroused the ire not only of koshe r ­ the traditional Jews, but also even of many Reform Jews, and koshe:­ i led to the establishment of a Conservative Reform movement. appro:,:::.::: The Chassidic movement on the other hand, deliberately meat. Sf:'i introduced all kinds of not commonly followed stringencies in sougr.t ;? halachah to intensify what to them was ecstatic devotion and was dedication.
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