מנהג יהודי

The tradition & historical record

A minhag (Hebrew: מִנְהָג, lit. 'custom'; pl. מִנְהָגִים, minhagim) is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, nusach (pronounced [ˈnusax]; נוּסָח, 'formula'), refers to the traditional ordering and forms of Jewish prayer. ¹

The triliteral n-h-g (Hebrew: נ־ה־ג) means primarily "to drive" or, by extension, "to conduct [oneself]". The Hebrew word minhag appears twice in the Hebrew Bible—both times in the same verse of 2 Kings 9:20. In the RJPS version, it is translated as "driving" and "drives", respectively: ¹

And the lookout reported, "The messenger has reached them, but has not turned back. And it looks like the driving of Jehu, son of Nimshi, who drives wildly." Homiletically, one could argue that the use of the word minhag in Jewish law (הֲלָכָה, Halakha) reflects its Biblical Hebrew origins as "the [manner of] driving [a chariot]" (à la 2 Jehu in 2 Kings 9:20). Whereas Halakha translates roughly to "the way of walking", minhag lends itself to the styles that Jews developed vis-à-vis Halakha. Furthermore, derekh (דֶּרֶךְ), which translates roughly to "path", is the itinerary Jewish communities maintain while walking. The present use of minhag for "custom" may have been influenced by the Arabic minhaj; in current Islamic usage, the term is used for the intellectual methodology of a scholar or school of thought rather than for the customs of a local or ethnic community. ¹

In addition to the 613 commandments, Jews have traditionally considered Halakha—Jewish law as given in the Tanakh and exposited and recorded in the Mishnah, Talmud, responsa literature, and other codes—to be normative and binding upon all Jews. In addition to the major halakhic literature, there have always been informal customs and traditions. Some customs were at some points universally adopted (e.g., the wearing of a kippah) or almost universally (e.g., monogamy). Others were or are observed by some segments of Jewry but not by others (e.g., not eating kitniyot on Passover). Other customs are bound to certain localities or groups that originated in certain localities. Minhagim exist in various forms: ¹

Ancient minhagim go back to the codification of the Talmud or earlier. Today, they are generally regarded as universally binding. The oldest recorded minhag is that of "beating the Aravot" (willow branches) on Hoshana Rabbah, which is believed to date back to the era of the Hebrew prophets. Many minhagim are followed by subgroups: Jews whose ancestors continued to live in the Middle East and Africa until the establishment of the State of Israel, regardless of where they live now, tend to follow a variety of customs, such as Mizrahi, Sephardi, or Yemenite Jews. Jews whose ancestors lived in Central Europe in the Middle Ages (regardless of where they live now) tend to follow Ashkenazic customs, while those whose families originated in the Iberian Peninsula generally follow Sephardic customs. ¹

Some sources in Rabbinic literature stress the importance of a long-held tradition, culminating in the statement "the minhag of our fathers is [equivalent to] Torah". Custom can thus determine Halachic practice in cases of disagreement among rabbinic authorities. In numerous instances, Rabbi Moses Isserles warns that one should not abolish long-held customs. (Isserles' gloss on the Shulchan Aruch was, in fact, written so as to delineate Ashkenazi minhagim alongside Sephardi practices in the same code of law.) Despite the above, a minhag does not override clear biblical or Talmudic enactments, and one may not transgress the latter for the sake of the former. In fact, any minhag that intrinsically involves an element of Halacha violation is considered null and void. The Talmud rules that a valid minhag accepted by previous generations of a family or community is binding upon all later generations. The Rosh states that the Talmud's ruling fundamentally applies to practices undertaken by learned individuals; innovations by the unlearned need only be followed publicly. Other Halachic authorities hold that the Talmud's ruling applies to all valid practices initiated by either learned or unlearned individuals. In most cases, personal acceptance of a new minhag is tantamount to vowing performance of that minhag. Consequently, abandonment of such a minhag typically requires hatarat nedarim or sh'eilat chakham: Halachic procedures for absolving oneself from oaths. This was often necessary when, for example, an Ashkenazi Jew moved to the Ottoman Empire and wished to join the local Sephardi community. ¹

Jewish law provides for a number of mechanisms to change or remove a custom when it is held to be mistaken or illogical. Orthodox rabbi and historian of Jewish law Menachem Elon writes: ¹

Custom, because of its spontaneous and undirected nature, sometimes calls for a measure of supervision and control. At times a custom may be founded on error, or develop unreasonably or illogically in a certain direction, or may even be in conflict with substantive and fundamental principles of Jewish law in a manner leaving no room for its integration into the system. From time to time the halakhic scholars exercised such control in order to contain or discredit entirely a particular custom. ¹

The acute displacement brought about by World War II and the Holocaust, and the large-scale immigration to the United States, various European countries, and especially the State of Israel, have led to a mixing of various minhagim and arguably the gradual disuse of certain customs. In addition, the baal teshuva movement has created a large group who have no clear tradition from their parents. In response to these phenomena, certain scholars have focused on the minhagim, and attempts have been made to revive minhagim that have fallen into disuse. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Minhag”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 7 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²