Q&A: Waiting Between Meat and Milk
Waiting Between Meat and Milk
Question
It is known from the Rema (and other medieval authorities) that the original Ashkenazi custom was to wait only one hour between meat and milk.
Over the years, most people of European descent changed in various directions: some to three, four, six, and more.
Can an Ashkenazi Jew who has no family custom of his own (more precisely, the grandfather had no custom, and the father decided to adopt six) “go back” to the earlier custom and wait only one hour? And would this require annulment of vows if he had been accustomed to keeping more?
The question assumes either that there is some kind of binding force to custom, or even if not, that we are not dealing with someone who thinks he is qualified to decide among the medieval authorities on this topic.
Answer
There is nothing to decide here, because we are dealing with customs, not opinions. But precisely for that reason, your own view on the topic has no significance; what matters is the custom that binds you. The fact that at some point in the past there was some custom is irrelevant when that custom is no longer prevalent in the community today. Nowadays it is accepted that the binding custom is the custom of one’s fathers/community, and therefore a person is supposed to continue his ancestral custom. If you want to change it, you need to go to a sage who will permit it for you.
Can the Rabbi be the sage who permits milk after 3 hours?
After all, these are customs that became widespread among the Jewish people.
And apparently those of my ancestors who were stringent didn’t realize just how much of a glutton I am…