How hypocritical when just a few days after Pesach, articles and blog posts in the frum Torah and yeshiva world websites not only question, but make light of the segulah known as shlissel challah. When posting an article about the dangers of shlissel challah why not do the same for metzitza Bpeh. These articles would be expected to appear in the left hating Forward not on the website that prides tself as the online voice of Torah Jewry. No one is saying that yiddishkeit begins and ends with shlissel challah. There is more that one can and should do for parnassah and avodas hashem. Segulos alone will not get you to far-but to make light of it and question the concept of minhag yisrael Torah, is worse.
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Other cynical articles posted HERE on a yeshiva site questioned the minhag and mesorah of shlissel challah. This segulah is brought down in sefarim from hundreds of years ago. (see article HERE) So what if your parents did not do it? Not an excuse to make light of a minhag yisrael. The frum print media did not print these articles, They know better. Its unfortunate the online "Torah" websites think they can post anything with no guidance.
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I don't agree with making fun of any minhag, but there is quite a difference between MBP which is in the Gemara as opposed to Shlissel Challah which some claim to have Xian origin.
ReplyDeleteThe "some claim" is one letz who made up or misrepresented his sources. There is no serious claim to this effect.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless you're right that the two are not comparable. Metzitza is a halacha practised by all Jews everywhere since Moshe Rabbenu; shlissel chalah is a relatively local minhag of a few areas. Neither one should be mocked, but they are not in the same league.
Although MBP and shlissel challah are different never the less once you bring in health concerns over a minhag they flood gates are open and all mitzvos and minhagim are under attack.
DeleteAre you seriously claiming that health concerns should not be raised about minhagim? This is a new Torah, not the one that was given on Har Sinai and handed down bimesora.
DeleteYou should be aware, BTW, that RSZA flt that health concerns trumped MBP. He told this to a mohel I know. The mohel asked why he didn't publicize his views, and he responded "I'm too old to deal with rocks being thrown through my windows".
I'm guessing the potential rock throwers were people with attitudes like yours.
The Irish bake schlissel challah on St. Patrick's Day
DeleteIf everything's special then nothing's special. If you're going to shrei "ov vey" over shlissl challah and say "Chas v'shalom anyone should question it!" you're going to justify attacks on real minhagim and halachos.
ReplyDeleteAs for MBP, if you really think that "we strongly support and defend it in the frum Torah circles. We chastise those who question it and vow to fight it" then you'll have to mee with some Briskers (they banned it in their communities) and explain all the halachic authorities who have declared it either non-essential or avoidable due to health risk.
Do you know any actual Briskers? The statement that "they banned [MBP] in their communities" is completely incorrect.
DeleteThe tiny kernel of truth behind this is that RC Soloveitchik said not to do MBP at the time of a specific epidemic in Brisk. But that's as far as it goes.
[That said, the consensus of most Litvisher poskim is/was that MBP is a minhag which is worth doing absent other considerations but needs to be weighed against the others. See R' Pirutinsky's sefer for many sources on this.]