The Customs of the Land of Israel and R. Yosef Karo
R. Shelomo Toledono (his dissertation on R. Betzalel Ashkenazi is available to download from here) has authored a number of books and articles which discuss the difference in customs among Sepharadim and their relationship to R. Yosef Karo. Much of his work is devoted to defending the customs from North Africa against R. Ovadiah Yosef’s desire to see all Sephardic Jews living in Israel conform to what he interprets as R. Yosef Karo’s opinion since Karo is the מרא דאתרא, the local authority, in the Land of Israel. See a previous post about them here. He has recently published an article in the journal מים מדליו (no. 18) on Minhagei Eretz Yisrael, the customs of the Land of Israel, with special attention given to their relationship to the opinions of R. Yosef Karo. Toledano examined two hundred customs observed by the Sephardim in the Land of Israel and his findings are partial, but they are very interesting.
1. R. Yosef Karo related to 126 of the 200 customs. (63%)
2. Of those 126, 31 either are either like Karo’s opinion or don’t contradict him. (24.5%)
3. Thirty-two of the customs are against the opinion of Karo. (25.4%)
4. Thirty-two of the customs were like the opinion of Karo and changed to be against his opinion. (25.4%)
5. Twenty-one weren’t like Karo’s opinion and they changed to be like his opinion. (16.6%)
6. Twenty-one of the 126 opinions that Karo related to were changed because of the kabbalah. (16.66%)
7. One hundred fifty of the 200 customs changed over time. (75%)
8. Thirty-two of those customs changed because of the kabbalistic influences.
9. R. Moses Isserles related to 84 of the 200 customs. (42%)
10. Thirty-seven of the customs are against the opinion of the Rama. (18.5%)
11. Fourty-four of the customs are either like the opinion of the Rama or don’t contradict him. (22%)
12. Sephardim in the Land of Israel observe customs that agree with the Rama in 23% of the cases examined.
13. Twenty of the customs which the Rama discussed were changed to agree with his opinion. (10%)
Toledano discusses a number of other findings, but he is confident that these figures are enough to dispel the notion that there is some uniform מנהג ארץ ישראל that is observed by everyone, is stable, and agrees with R. Yosef Karo. He is continuing his research and plans to examine more of them.