Insight On A Chabad Minhag - To Klop Or Not To Klop?
A Lubavitcher friend of mine pointed out that the Chabad minhag to only make noise at Haman's name where he has a title (e.x. Haman ha'agagi) was the minhag in Lithuania and White Russia. Interestingly, he also pointed out that the Rebbe said in a sicha that people should not be stopped from making noise at other mentions of Haman's name if they want to.
A footnote in Sefer HaMinhagim also indicates that the Friediker Rebbe did such:
"The compiler of the Siddur Yaavetz (R. Yaakov Emden) records that his father (the Chacham Zvi) used to stamp with his feet and clap with his shoes when Haman's name was mentioned; and I saw my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, do likewise (in contrast to the views of the Acharonim cited in Sdei Chemed, loc. cit., sec. 10)."
Does anyone know the basis of the minhag in Lithuania and White Russia not to klop at every mention of Haman's name?
8 Comments:
Sorry i don't know the basis but it sure is a good minhag. When i listen to megillah at non lubavitch shuls where they klop at every haman you get the feeling of maybe why lubavitch does not. it takes about double the time with all that extra banging! so maybe in order to keep everyone focused we minimize the banging.
Don't know the basis of this minhag, but I have an interesting anecdote about it.
I used to work for a wonderful man in Brooklyn, a real tzaddik, who happens to also be a veteran and very sharp CPA. Although he davens in a Chassidic shul, and has a brother who is a Gerer Chassid, he is more of a Yeshivish type. His Rebbe was HaRav Yaakov Kamenetsky of Torah VoDaas. He is also an excellent Ba'al Koreh, one of the best I've ever heard!
I once mentioned that I was going to my brother-in-law, who lives in Morristown [Chabad country], NJ, for Purim. He asked me if I had ever heard the Megilla without all the Klopping by Haman's name? He said, "It's a different sefer entirely!"
I couldn't understand why he mentioned this until I arrived at Morristown and discovered that they follow the Chabad minhag of only Klopping when Haman's titles are mentioned. It was indeed different, but I doubt if I could ever get used to it. I was quite surprised that my boss knew of this minhag.
This year in Warsaw I got a few nasty looks when I "directed" the klopping in Yeshiva . . .
Keep On Smile'n - Indeed, and I am sure the people who have to watch small children appreciate the faster reading.
Fedora Black: Interesting perspective. I had not considered it from that angle.
Yitz: Thank you for sharing that story about how this Chabad custom has spread to other shuls.
Mottel: Why did you get nasty looks? By the way, I have enjoyed seeing your pictures of Poland. I would really like to visit one day. There is so much Jewish history to see.
ASJ: The shul in Morristown is a Chabad shul. My boss's shul does it the regular way, klopping all the Hamans...
Obviously it was NOT a universal minhag in Belarus (White Russia). Karliner chasidim beat Homon on every single name in Megilo.
Yitz: Whoops, I obviously misunderstood what you wrote.
BTW, Taking your earlier advice I bought a copy of Mkomos HaKedoshim today.
Anonymous: Thanks for your two cents on this and the information about the minhag in Karlin.
By the way. See new answer in discussion about maises:
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8444758&postID=114164423624306925
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