Slowing Down?

I HOPE not. It's just that between my mom finally moving to town last week, starting a new business that my partner and I are working hard to get off the ground, my medical equipment business looking like it's starting to pick up (please, God!), and Passover preparations, it's been a bit crazy.

Now, this time of year brings all sorts of fun with it! It brings about all three of my biggest pet peeves all at once: Daylight Saving Time (here, here, and here), second day of Yom Tov (too many to list individually, so click this and see the list), and, of course, Kitniyos on Pesach (also too many to list individually, so click here for this list).

Enjoy those older posts, as I don't really have much to add to them at this time, except that, when it comes to kitniyos and second day of yom tov, I AM finding more and more people who agree with me. Is there something reason aside from "mesorah" preventing us from getting rid of the chaff? It's really interesting that silly things that get added can stay on, but they can never be dropped. Did I tell of my latest discovery? It's about saying the bracha of Ga'al Yisrael before Shemoneh Esrei in Shacharis.

Most shuls (non-Lubavitch, of course) in which I've davened, if not all them, the Shliach Tzibur ends the bracha of Ga'al Yisrael preceding the Shacharis Shemoneh Esrei quietly in order to prevent one from saying Amen so that the congregation can segue directly into Shemoneh Esrei without a hefsek (any stop for other words or even a breath).

Here's what I found out yesterday: Apparently, this is a relatively "new" innovation and most poskim say one should not do this. Some say the Amen is NOT a hefsek, others say the congregation should just say the bracha with the Shliach Tzibur and end at the same time he does.

Strangely, I always thought this was just common-sense practice. Pretty much every shul I've been to in the last twenty-two years (again, NOT including Chabad) follows this practice and I'd NEVER heard it was wrong, but it really is.

So, a "new" minhag sets in, and most people practice it even though it's wrong. I'd like to see them try to get rid of it. Good luck with that. Another fifty or a hundred years, and it'll be Halacha.

Well, that's my rant for now. As Arnold would say: I'll be back... I've lots to say, especially about my deceased (thank God) father and about my mom, who has finally moved to town and is living about two blocks from now.