I am a Jew from Turkey who is very interested in the Jewish traditions and their place in our lives. Yet, all I know about is the Kiddush and lighting candles on the Sabbath. Due to living in diaspora I guess I have lost most of our traditions. It would be very helpful , if you could maybe inform me of some of them. Jewish traditions which are lost and which still survive throughout the world are my main interest.

It is a pleasure for me to hear from a fellow Jew in Turkey…we sometimes forget that you’re still there and living according to our Torah. Perhaps as much as you want to find out about Torah traditions, I should try to learn more about Jewish life in Turkey!

It’s difficult for me to know exactly which area of Jewish tradition interests you the most, so for now, I’ll outline for you the main categories and perhaps, if you like, you’ll write back with a more specific request.

I think it’s fair to divide Jewish practice into following parts:

Torah law:
The 613 mitzvot that we all received from Moshe at Mount Sinai along with their practical details and some understanding of their reasons.

Rabbinical Mitzvot:
There are seven actual mitzvot that were “added” over the years by the rabbis of Sanhedrin. These include hearing the reciting of the Scroll of Esther on the holiday of Purim and lighting the Menorah on Chanukah.

Rabbinic Enactments:
There were various practices added by the Rabbis of the Talmud to help protect the observance of Torah mitzvot. One example is that of not eating milk products at the same meal as (nor immediately after) meat. All Jewish communities share an equal responsibility to keep each of these commandments and enactments as, until the completion of the Talmud, decisions made by a Jewish high court (the Sanhedrin) were binding on all Jews everywhere. All of the first three categories are made up of laws and customs that we all share.

Local Enactments:
After the Talmud was finished (and especially since those of the Ashkenazic and the Sefardic traditions “split up” around 1,000 years ago), great rabbis would sometimes create enactments to protect the observance of Torah-law. But these could only be binding on members of their own communities and not on all Jews. Therefore, for instance, Ashkenazim don’t eat Kitniyot (peas, rice etc.) on the holiday of Passover but those of Sefardic descent do.

Wide-spread Customs:
There are some Minhagim (voluntary practices) that became so popular that they eventually took on the status of law. One example of this is the custom for men to wear a four cornered piece of clothing and to attach Tzitzit. According to Torah-law, a man only has to wear Tzitzit if he happens anyway to be wearing a four-cornered garment, but otherwise not. In the many years since we stopped wearing such clothes normally, we’ve nevertheless been sure to make and wear them anyway to bring us to the point were we can do this beautiful Mitzva. Since the custom of wearing a special four-cornered garment is so well accepted, doing so has achieved the status of law.

Family Customs:
In some circumstances, a custom kept within one family might become obligatory on all members – but not on other Jews. An example of this is the custom of descendants of Rabbi Yomtov Lipman Heller (the 17th Century author of the commentary to Mishnayot, Tosafot Yom Tov) who was miraculously saved from (if my memory is correct) death. To this day, his thousands of descendants still observe the private family celebration on the anniversary of his being saved.

Other Customs:
There are, beyond all of the above, countless customs that are practiced by Jews here, but not there…by synagogues in some places but not others. Many of these are beautiful customs that should be protected and continued by their communities but are, nevertheless, not necessarily binding on any one in particular.

You can see, I think, that there are many, many laws and customs that all Jews share…and just as important, we all share the rules as to how to apply local customs and how to respect other communities whose customs are different from ours.

I hope this is of some help and I may you be blessed!

Rabbi Boruch Clinton