CUSTOM (Hebrew, "Minhag"):(Redirected from USAGE.) An old and
general usage, or a religious practise, not based on any
particular Biblical passage, and which has, through the force of
long observance, become as sacred and binding as laws instituted
by the proper authorities. "Custom always precedes law" (Soferim
xiv. 18). This is true not only of the Talmudic laws prescribed
by the Rabbis, but also of many Biblical institutions. Many
statutes and commandments, civil, moral, and ecclesiastical,
found on the pages of Scripture undoubtedly had their origin in
the customs of the people, which, however, became modified and
fixed by being inscribed on the sacred books. Some of the
customs, as, for instance, circumcision, or the prohibition of
eating blood or of eating the "sinew which shrank," may date
back to patriarchal days; others, again, may have a later or
perhaps a foreign origin. Moreover, even after the laws had been
written down, the manner and form of practise could not always
be detailed; and although t