Minhag Yisrael or Made Up?

Prepared for print by Faigy Peritzman

So many times, we come across an interesting “minhag” or tradition and we wonder, where did this come from? Does it have a source within our mesorah, or is one of those things that morphed from someone’s imagination to worldwide practice?

This is important to know, because real minhagim have a halachic power — they should not be dropped unnecessarily — whereas a made-up practice does not have the halachic power of minhag. Here are some examples:

A child fasting three fasts before bar or bas mitzvah

Although widespread in certain families, this made-up practice has no source whatsoever, and is a practice labeled by Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach as not having the authority of a minhag. This means that families who have been instructing their children to do so should not continue this practice since they are making their children suffer needlessly. It is, however, permitted and recommended for children over the age of 10 or 11 to skip breakfast and fast part of the taanis, each child according to his strength and maturity.

Wearing a red string that was wrapped around Kever Rochel

Some people wear a red string around the finger or wrist as a segulah against ayin hara, or place such a string on their children’s wrists. While this practice is quite common in certain circles, we don’t know its origins. If anything, some contemporary poskim condemn and criticize this practice, since Chazal (Tosefta, Shabbos 7:1) consider it a non-Jewish custom that is forbidden to follow.