Re: Hakafot on Shmini Atzeret

On Sat, October 28, 2006 10:20 pm, R Jonathan Baker wrote:
: Other well-known halachot based on "mistakes": the kashrut of bee-honey
: (when the text meant date-honey) and turkey (based on a mistake about
: Asian Indians vs. American Indians).  When asked about turkey, isn't it
: based on a mistaken identity, the late Bobover Rebbe replied, "It's a good
: thing our ancestors weren't as frum as we are".  So now we have a mesorah
: that turkey is kosher....

Neither of these are examples of minhagim based on mistakes, as neither is a
minhag. Turkey is altogether different for a second reason, as eating it today
is only indirectly related to the mistake, and permitted on the grounds of
those who made the error. (Besides, it has the simanim anyway.) IOW, the
concept of "having a [mimetic] mesorah" is part of the textual formulation.

But to add to what others said about the gemara and honey. I understood the
gemara to be aware that it was using a homonym, and saying that the pasuq
wouldn't speak of eating devash without a qualifier if the other kind of
devash were okay. Besides, they didn't matir honey, they found a maqor for the
common knowledge that honey was okay.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
micha@xxxxxxxxxxx        your grip on it, it chokes; slacken your grip,
http://www.aishdas.org   and it flies away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter

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