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As Isaac pointed out, Eishes Chayil itself is a Biblical passage. The practice of saying both of these on Friday night is found in Siddur Shaar Hashamayim (by the Shelah Hakadosh, R' Yeshayah Halevi …

One part of it, I think, is that the Rav himself has to make sure that his actions will not be misconstrued by observers. We thus find, for example, cases where our Sages acted according to the strict …

It's actually not necessarily after the leining; the Sefardic custom is to do this beforehand, when the Torah is taken out of the Ark. (Indeed, for this reason the Shulchan Aruch - whose author, R' Yo …

Maybe going by one's Jewish name?

Maybe because that's how it was done in the Beis Hamikdash? Since SBHS there involved musical instruments, it couldn't take place on Shabbos or Yom Tov (Sukkah 50a-b). That said, there are communitie …

A few answers: It's to make the simple Jews feel better, knowing that they too have a share in Olam Haba, not just the scholars (Kol Bo, cited in Mateh Moshe 486) Before studying the maxims for prop …

The Rema writes (Orach Chaim 183:2) that the cup used for a berachah (the context is talking about the cup of wine for birkas hamazon, but the same applies to kiddush, etc.) should be מלא על כל גדותיו …

Maybe to make them easier to thread through the maavarta (the "channel" at the back of the tefillin casing)?

Taamei Haminhagim (p. 270, footnote) records a story told by the Minchas Elazar of Munkatch, in which the Ohr Hachaim (R. Chaim ibn Attar, 1696-1743) gave such a note to someone to put into the Wall. …

"Mazal" stems from the root "nazal," meaning "to flow." The basic meaning of the word, then, is not "luck" but rather "something that causes a flow." (It is therefore applied to the heavenly bodies, w …

Taamei Haminhagim (Jerusalem ed., p. 228-229) cites a couple of explanations. From R' Shalom, the first Belzer Rebbe: Moshe's argument wasn't that the angels had violated the actual technical prohib …

I have never heard of such a custom (though granted, that doesn't mean much); on the contrary, I have read of chassidim who would present their Rebbe with a new knife every year. Could be, though, tha …

Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 8:11) states that the tallis katan should be worn over one's clothes, "so that he will always see it and remember the mitzvos." Magen Avraham (subsec. 13) comments that ke …

It's from the Gemara, Chullin 105b (bottom): ואמר אביי: מריש הוה אמינא האי דשדי מיא מפומא דחצבא - משום ציבתא; אמר לי מר, משום דאיכא מים הרעים "Abaye says: I used to think that the reaso …

Rosh Hakehilah is more than a shul president. He would have been a lay leader of the entire community (or a major portion of it), very likely representing them before the (non-Jewish) authorities when …