Nusach Ashkenaz

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Nusach Ashkenaz is a style of

Jewish liturgy conducted by Ashkenazi Jews. It is primarily a way to order and include prayers, and differs from Nusach Sefard (as used by the Hasidim) and Baladi-rite prayer, and still more from the Sephardic rite proper, in the placement and presence of certain prayers.[1]

Subdivisions

Nusach Ashkenaz may be subdivided into the German or Western branch -

Litvaks ("Lithuanian").[citation needed
] In strictness, the term Minhag Ashkenaz applied only to the usages of German Jews south and west of the Elbe, most notably the community of Frankfurt.[2] North-Eastern German communities such as Hamburg regarded themselves as following Minhag Polin, although their musical tradition and pronunciation of Hebrew, and some of the traditions about the prayers included, were more reminiscent of the western communities than of Poland proper.[citation needed]

There are a number of minor differences between the Israeli and American Ashkenazi practice in that the Israel follows some practices of the Vilna Gaon (see Perushim § Influence) as well as some Sephardic practices. For example, the practice of most Ashkenazic communities in Israel to recite Ein Keloheinu during the week, as is the Sephardic practice.[3]

The ritual of the United Kingdom - Minhag Anglia - is based on those of both Germany and Poland Hamburg;[4] see Authorised Daily Prayer Book. "Minhag Anglia" does also have wider connotations re the structure, and hashkafa, of English-Judaism more generally; see

Jews College
.

History

Leopold Zunz claimed that the Ashkenazi rite is descended from the ancient Israeli minhag, while the Sephardi rite is descended from Babylonia.[5] Hakham Moses Gaster, in his introduction to the prayer book of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews,[6] made exactly the opposite claim. To put the matter into perspective it must be emphasized that all Jewish liturgies in use in the world today are in substance Babylonian, with a small number of usages from the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael) surviving the process of standardization: in a list of differences preserved from the time of the Geonim, most of the usages recorded as from Eretz Yisrael are now obsolete.[7]

Medieval Ashkenazi scholars stated that the Ashkenazi rite is largely derived from the

liturgical poetry
from Eretz Yisrael that has been eliminated from other rites, and this fact was the main support for Zunz's theory.

The earliest recorded form of the Ashkenazi rite, in the broadest sense, may be found in an early medieval prayer book called

Romaniote and Provençal rites, and to a lesser extent to the Catalan and Old Spanish rites: the current Sephardic rite has since been standardized to conform with the rulings of the Geonim
, thereby showing some degree of convergence with the Babylonian and North African rites.

The liturgical writings of the Romaniote Jews, especially the piyyutim (hymns), found their way through Italy to Ashkenaz and are preserved to this day in most Ashkenazi mahzorim.[10]

Ashkenazi practices

  • Tefillin are worn on Chol HaMoed (except on Shabbat). (The original custom was to wear tefillin for the entire Shacharis and Musaf services, for weekday New Moon and Chol HaMoed prayers; however, for the last several hundred years, almost all communities take off tefillin before Musaf on these day. Many today, particularly in Israel, do not wear tefillin on Chol HaMoed at all.)
  • Separate blessings are said for the arm tefillin and the head tefillin.
  • Barukh she'amar is recited before Hodu, as opposed to other rites which recite Hodu first.
  • The second blessing before the Shema begins "Ahavah Rabbah" in the morning service and "Ahavas `Olam" in the evening.
  • In the summer months the second blessing of the Amidah contains no reference to dew or rain (Sephardim insert the words morid ha-tal, "who makes the dew fall").
  • The kedushah of shacharit begins "neqaddesh es shimcha", and the kedushah of mussaf (of shabbat and Yom Tov) begins "na'aritz'cha ve-naqdish'cha".[11]
  • There is one standard wording for the "Birkas Ha-Shanim", with only small variations between summer and winter.
  • The
    minhah of fast days in general and not only on Yom Kippur
    .
  • The last blessing of the Amidah is "Sim Shalom" in the morning service and "Shalom Rav" in the afternoon and evening services. (Congregations which follow German or Israeli Ashkenaz customs recite Sim Shalom at Shabbat Mincha as well, because of the afternoon Torah reading.)
  • The Torah scroll is lifted and displayed to the congregation after the Torah reading rather than before.
  • It is customary to stand for Kaddish.
  • En Kelohenu concludes with a stanza about the making of incense. It is recited only on Shabbat and Holidays. (Most communities in Israel recite it every day.)
  • Adon Olam has only five stanzas.
  • The morning service on Shabbos and Yom Tov contains Anim Zemirot - most communities recite it after Musaf, although some communities recite it after shacharis, right before taking out the Torah.
  • It is a binding custom to avoid
    Kitniyos
    on Passover.
  • Blessings are said over all four glasses of wine at the Passover Seder.
  • Selichos do not begin until the Shabbos immediately before Rosh Hashanah
    if Rosh Hashanah falls on Thursday or Shabbos, or a week-and-a-half before if Rosh Hashanah falls on Monday or Tuesday.
  • One set of Hanukkah lights is lit by each member of a household.
  • The shammash is used to light the other Hanukkah lights.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-19-531360-4
    .
  2. ^ Daniel Goldschimdt, Rosh Hashanah Machzor, page 14 of introduction. In the Middle Ages, the border seems to have been further east.
  3. ^ See Siddur Ezor Eliyahu, Jerusalem 2008, page 85
  4. ^ Apple, Raymond Minhag Anglia - a broader connotation
  5. ^ Leopold Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden, historisch entwickelt, Frankfurt am Main 1892
  6. ^ Preface to the Book of Prayer of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation, London, 1901: reprinted in 1965 and subsequent editions.
  7. ^ Lewin, B. M., Otzar Ḥilluf Minhagim.
  8. ^ Geonica
  9. ^ Daniel Goldschimdt, Rosh Hashanah Machzor, page 13 of introduction.
  10. ^ Bowman, S. "Jews of Byzantium", p. 153 Cf. Hebrew Studies by Yonah David, Shirei Zebadiah (Jerusalem 1972), Shirei Amitai (Jerusalem, 1975) and Shirei Elya bar Schemaya (New York and Jerusalem 1977); and the material in the Chronicle of Ahima'az.
  11. ^ Keduashah of Musaf of weekday Chol HaMoed and New Moon begins "neqaddesh es shimcha", like every other kedushah during the week.

Bibliography

External links
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