[HANASHIR:7904] Re: Guitar-led service in Israel prevented

[BEBWH <BEBWH...>]

<<While I agree wholeheartedly that minhag should always be respected, that
 was not the issue in this case.  The hotel employee who asked me to stop
 playing began speaking on his cell phone as he left the room. 

Are you sure you were making the service at the time Shabbat starts? Could it 
be you were making Shabbat early and it wasn;t yet for him? Talking on the 
phone and likewise playing guitar are not issues of minhag. They both fall 
into catagories of work prohibited on Shabbat. I doubt he would have been 
more cooperative had you offered to play more Friedman or less Klepper. 
Halacha is one thing but Minhag HaMakom is a very interesting thing that can 
at times overrule a persons personal practices and observences... that she/he 
may be doing according to Halacha. The Rambam brings down situations where a 
person traveling may be obligated to change their customs on a particular 
point to match those of the city being visited. One example is Ere Pesach, 
when certain communities stop working at a specific time and others do not. A 
visitor with a conflicting "Minhag" may cause a problem for himself should 
others see him! Another specifc example, from the Shulchan Aruch HaRav, is 
regarding a mourner who is obligated to lead the services. What does the 
mourner do when he prays according to one Nusach and there is no synagogue 
that prays accordingly in his neighborhood, or in the town he is visiting?  
He is instructed to change his Nusach in order to lead the service in the 
sysnagogue in the way that the "member" there are accustomed. Sometimes we 
are obligated to make changes in our regular patterns out of respect for 
others. Its usually a learning experince.

------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+