B"H
The Mishna in Masechet Avoda Zarah / Amud 2a is talking about the 3 days before the idol worshipper's holidays where you should not do business with them.
According to Tosafot, the Yerushalmi and the RAMBAM (Mishna Torah), the in the above Mishna mentioned OVDEI KOHAVIM are only in Eretz Israel and abroad they are called (Shomrei) MINHAG AVOTEIHEM.
Could you please explain what (Shomrei) Minhag Avoteihem means, as, so far, I haven't found a proper answer.
If people in Chutz La'Aretz follow the minhagim of their fathers, isn't it avodat kohavim or idol worship as well? What is the difference?
Thank you very much and Shavua Tov,
Miriam Woelke, Jerusalem, Israel
Minhag Avoseihem be'Yadeihem means that they don't take their religion very seriously - they're just going through the motions. What this means practically is that - for example - meat from animals that they slaughtered is Mutar be'Hana'a (it's not Kosher but we can feed it to our dogs) because they did not have their idol in mind when they slaughtered it (Chulin 13a). It does not mean that what they do is not considered idol worship and that they are permitted to do it under Noachide law.
Ovdei Kochavim in Eretz Yisrael take their religion more seriously but, according to the Gemara (Chulin 13b), not seriously enough to be considered Minim. A Min is someone who is Aduk (mentally attached) to his particular idol worship (Rashi, there). Meat from an animal that he slaughters is Asur be'Hana'a (forbidden to derive any benefit from) because we assume that he slaughtered it in the name of his idol. Therefore, even in the times of Chazal only a small minority of non-Jews were bonafide idol worshipers. The rest - even in Eretz Yisrael - were going through the motions to one degree or another.
Kol Tuv,
Rabbi Sigler