Book of the Orchard: On the Importance of Custom

Unknown

Sefer ha-pardes

Late 11th Century

About This Entry

Book of the Orchard (Sefer ha-pardes), which many have ascribed to Rashi himself, is one of several halakhic miscellanies that preserve the practices and rulings of Rashi and earlier scholars. Apparently based on writings pieced together by Rashi’s students, Book of the Orchard is arranged topically and covers practical everyday topics as well as the annual holidays. This excerpt discusses the authority of local custom (minhag).

There are those who are stringent about not reciting the zidduk ha-din [after the death of a close relative] on Friday afternoon, beginning with the middle of the day [because mourning is not permitted on the Sabbath]. I see no reason for such stringency. But then Israel are sages, the sons of sages, and if they are not prophets, then they are sons of prophets, and their customs that they learned from their fathers is Torah, to which nothing should be added [and from which] nothing should be subtracted.

Translated by Israel M. Ta-Shma.

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Notes

Words in brackets appear in the original translation.

Credits

Unknown, Book of the Orchard: On the Importance of Custom, trans. Israel M. Ta-Shma, from Israel M. Ta-Shma, Creativity and Tradition: Studies in Medieval Rabbinic Scholarship, Literature and Thought (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2006), 17. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.