Follow up to this answer.

The Mishnah Berurah refers to the shul's minhag.

While on vacation, I entered a shul carrying my tefillin bag. In the shul, I saw 6 people wearing tefillin, one of them was the rabbi. The other 4 were not wearing tefillin. I ask the rabbi, "What is the shul's minhag?"

The rabbi says, "I'm new here, and until I came, this shul never had a daily minyan. When I came, I tried to establish my rule of wearing tefillin on Hol Hamo'ed, and some people protested and said that they wouldn't come here since they don't wear tefillin. Seeing that I wouldn't have a minyan, I couldn't establish any shul minhag at all, so technically, there is none. I allow people to follow their own personal minhag."

I'm not sure that the rabbi's answer made "halachic" sense, even if it was practical (he was trying to assure a minyan.) But which minhag should have been followed? One's personal minhag (seeing that the shul has none?) The minhag followed by the majority of people in the shul, or the rabbi's minhag, as he is the "leader" of the shul?

  • 1
    I'd assume you'd follow your own minhag, since that's what the rabbi said.
    – ezra
    May 9 '16 at 15:04
  • 1
    Why would you not trust the rabbi? I don't know what you are asking. When you go somewhere new, ask what the minhag is. That's the minhag. Done. Unbinding VTC as Unclear.
    – Double AA
    May 9 '16 at 15:05
  • I went to a shul in which the rav did not sit up front because his personal minhag was not to wear tefillin and the shul minhag had been to wear tefillin. They used to try have two minyanim (one with and one without) but do not have enough people to have separate minyonim. The rav goes back to the front when everyone takes off the tefillin for musaf. May 9 '16 at 15:16
  • @sabbahillel Why doesn't he just wear Tefillin like everyone else there? Or is the Minhag only people up front wear Tefillin?
    – Double AA
    May 9 '16 at 15:18
  • @DoubleAA The original minhag had bee to have a minyan for with and a minyan for without. Apparently it is the people without that stand in the back but because there are both groups, he does not want to stand out as favoring one group over the other. May 9 '16 at 15:21

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .