MINHAG AND HALAKHAH

Toward a Model of Shared Authority on Matters of Ritual

Mark Washofsky

A friend of mine is the gabai of an orthodox synagogue in

my neighborhood. Assisting him are several ba’alei batim known collectively as the"ritual committee." They supervise the many details, both great and small, of their congregation’s religious life, and there is always much to do. They hand out the aliyot and other honors, determining who shall daven and lein at every service, especially on the yamim tovim. They see to it that the siddurim are in good shape, the talesim clean and their tzitzit kosher, the yahrzeit lists up-to-date. They make sure that wine and schnapps are provided for Shabbat , that the lulav and etrog are ordered in time for Sukkot , that the kitchen is closed up before Pesah and that the white parokhet and Torah mantles are in place at Selihot. Their authority over matters of ritual, the dominant aspect of their synagogue’s activity, is clear; although many complain about this or that decision, nobody can successfully challenge a ruling of the ritual committee. Nobody, that is, except the rabbi who in this halakic community has the final say on all such issues. Moreover, there are a host of ritual questions over which the ritual committee has no say at all. It is the rabbi and not the ritual committee who decides whether the congregants shall stand during every recitation of qaddish(they do), whether a Bat Mitzvah ceremony can be held in the sanctuary(it cannot), and how high the mehitzah shall be currently at the eye-level of the men while seated, but it may soon be raised). Again, people can complain, as they frequently do, about the rabbi’s particular decisions. But they do not contest his authority to make them. The congregants accept this division of authority between rabbi and laity, and there is general agreement as to which ritual questions lie on either side of the dividing line.