MARK WASHOFSKY

ta’ut, a mistaken practice which deserves to be annulled.” They may, as we have seen, note that the minhag conflicts with the halakhah but acknowledge its obligatory force. They may also find Talmudic-halakhic justifications for the minhag. These justifications, as we have seen, are not entirely persuasive. There is always another point of view, that of the posqim who do not accept the validity of the minhag, and we somehow cannot escape the feeling that those authorities have the better argument. Often, the"anti-minhag" position seems manifestly in closer accord with the sense of the relevant Talmudic passages or with the conceptual framework of the ritual observance in question. In the end, however, the weakness of the"pro-minhag' arguments is not decisive. When a minhag has existed over time and when it clearly derives from the legitimate"religious instinct" of the people, it is unnecessary to prove that it represents the one"correct" or"best" interpretation of the Talmudic sugya. It is sufficient rather to demonstrate that the custom is not forbidden, that it can be justified, that a rather plausible theory can be offered in its behalf so that its existence need not contradict the basic parameters of the halakhah. Such theories are not difficult to construct. The halakhic sources are rich in intellectual intensity and sophistication, and as the vast literature of the Tosafot and rishonim amply demonstrates, they afford a virtually limitless range of possibilities for hiddush and creative interpretation. Unlike minhagim, which are sanctified by tradition and usage prove difficult to change and impossible to annul, the abstract conceptual rules and principles of halakhah can be combined, rearranged, and manipulated by a scholar with an agile mind in such a way as to produce a variety of solutions to the same problem. The"most obvious" and the"most plausible” understanding of a text, in other words, does not exhaust its full range of interpretive possibilities. And the posqgim have frequently abandoned standard, traditionally-accepted interpretations in favor of alternative readings which, though somewhat forced and not as literal, are more congenial to the existence of popular custom. In this way, minhag has acted as a

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