The Chasam Sofer. felt that he might have offended
the
Yismach Moishe (R. Moishe Teitelbaum
ZT"L) by being
overly critical of Chasidim.
The Ch. S.
sent an apology letter trying to appease him.
The Ch. S. starts by asking the following question.
How do Chazal know thatדבשof the שבעת המינים are dates?
On the פסוק of כל שאור וכל דבש לא תקטירו Rashi
explains that nectar from all fruits is called דבש
so how did Chazal know that it is not any other
fruit but dates?
The Ch. S. answered, that by ביכורים it says מראשית( is
also translated the best)
Chazal knewthe
sweetest and
best honey comes from a Teitelbaum
(dates).
Unlike the Minhag of
most Ashkenaz Yidden,the
Gaon's Minhag was not to
say לדוד ה' אורי
from R. Chodesh Ellul to Simchas Torah.
The אדרת writes the reason for the
Gaon was because of טירחא דציבורא.
Saying one extra
Kapitel Tehillim takes up too much
time of the ציבור. Perhaps we can
explain the Aderes /Gaon, There is no mention in
Bavli, Yerushalmi, Rishonim, Tur, Shulchan
Aruch, Kisvei Arizal, etc. to say לדוד ה' אורי ( Ellul) The מטה אפרים is the first Halacha Sefer to mention this Minhag.
The first to mention to
say it בציבור is the Sefer Chemdas Hayomim* & the Sefer Shem Tov Katan who are ספרי קבלה The Gaon, in general,
was against adding additional Tefillos
& Pesukim not originating from the אנשי כנסת הגדולה Wasting one minute of a רבים is multiplied by the number of people
in the Minyan Adding a Kapitel
Tehillim which takes to say only one minute
can at times be considered taking 100
minutes. (A Shul with 100 מתפללים)
This might explain why
the Gaon considered it טירחא דציבוראto add לדוד ה'
אורי אמבצי *controversial
Sefer
According to מורי ורבי הרה"ג ר' שלמה מילר
שליט"א, דעת תורה applies only to הלכה
& תורה השקפה.
There we have a מצוה דאורייתא to listen to
our
Gedolim.
All other subjects (eg: medical advice etc.) are not
considered דעת תורה and one is not obligated
to
follow their advice.
It might be worthwhile to follow their advice as
an עצה טובה but one is not obligated to do so.
There are others who argue on מורי ורבי שליט"א
and claim that a גדול who is a תלמיד חכם ויר"ש
and his mind is absorbed with only תורה,
has a
special סיעתא דשמיא and all his opinions
are
considered דעת תורה.
My father ע"ה
told me that in the late 30's in Europe,
there were some who were מחמיר on פקוח נפש and
didn't follow דעת תורה. They did so by
leaving Europe
and finding refuge in America & Eretz Yisroel.
The Sefer שלחן העזר
quotes the ספר המטעמים*
"חתן & כלה before walking down to
the חופה untie all the
knots they are wearing.
The reason for doing so is to prevent from כשפים (witchcraft) which might put a
spell on
the couple and prevent them from having relations."
(Based on a תרגום המיוחס ליונתן)
The above is not
a Minhag but a Segula people
adopted to prevent witchcraft from harming them.
The יראים & תמימים
(who fear & trust Hashem) rely on תמים תהי' עם ה' אלוקך & שומר מצוה לא ידע דבר רע (Don't bother
unknotting)"
*Probably, the
first written source of this Minhag/Segulah