Dear Friend,

In traditional Judaism, we follow the customs with which we grew up. This is referred to as a minhag h’avinu…your father’s custom. The entire passage referring to this is as follows and leaves room for questioning: “Minhag h’Avinu b’Yadaynu”…the customs of your father are in your hands”. That is a very clear statement on the surface but opens up a serious question, because, merely by changing the inflection, you may understand it in one of two ways.

“Minhag h’Avinu”…..clear and with out question means “your father’s customs”.
It is in the term “b’Yadaynu”…”are in your hands” that a question arises. The question is; does this mean that you are bound to “hold” to your father’s ways OR, because those ways are now in YOUR hands, you have the right to change them.

Traditional interpretation, of course, is that you must follow your father’s ways.
If you put the inflection on the word h’Avinu, you are, unquestionably, so bound. However, if you put the inflection on b’Yadaynu – YOUR hands, the question rises as to being bound to the old ways.

In most instances, it makes more sense to stay with the ways of the father…who followed the ways of his father…back to Sinai than it does to make contemporary changes (i.e. reform practices).