16
Essentially, a mistaken edition of the Radak was popular for a short time, leading to various changes by overzealous grammarians and confusing two very influential rabbis. See the extensive (hundreds of manuscripts/editions surveyed) documentation of Dr. Yitzchak/Jordan Penkower in Iyyunei Miqra uFarshanut, vol. 4, Bar Ilan University Press, 1997, greatly ...
15
The relevant word is דכא which in some scrolls is written דכה. See Deuteronomy 23:2.
While the portion of Aleppo Codex containing that word is currently lost, we do have the Aleppo Codex to Tehillim 90:3 where the same word appears spelled with an Alef. The Mesorah there notes that this spelling is used in three places and lists them: Deuteronomy 23:2, ...
13
I heard Rabbi Berel Wein discussing that Rashi's headcovering (in the animated film made by Rabbi Wein) is red, maroon, and/or brown. The historical research shows those were men's colors for Jews in Rashi's time and place. Someone objected that it should be a black velvet yarmulka. Rabbi Wein replied that black happened in the 1400s as a result of a Church ...
13
You can own them (Rama in Shulchan Aruch OC 453:1). The Mishna Berura there adds that you can even derive benefit from them.
13
Rav Yosef Messas a"h (he served as Rav in Tilimsan Algeria, Meknes Morocco, and as Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Haifa) held that wearing costumes/disguises on Purim is absolutely forbidden as hukas hagoyim and that its origins stem from an imitation of the pre-Lent festivity of Carnavale which itself has origins in the orgiastic paganism of Bacchanalia. He ...
13
Rabbi Berel Wein has suggested that long ago, there were a certain amount of anti-Sephardic animosity related to the fact that when during the Crusades, the Ashkenazic Jews forced to choose between the cross and the sword went to their deaths; whereas during the Spanish Inquisition, many Spanish (i.e. Sephardic) Jews chose to stay alive and outwardly profess ...
12
What I find interesting about the Rosh is that he remained an Ashkenazi-centrist, even in his host country. He started a Yeshibha based on the Ashkenaz model, married his sons, exclusively, to members of his own extended family (although he did marry his daughters to Sephardim, probably students at his Yeshibha..).
Another interesting thing to point out is ...
12
This article has a writeup on the subject, speculating that it was written no later than about 500 CE (i.e., during the Talmudic era), based on its style.
Machzor Vitry in fact places it earlier, tracing it to the Anshei Knesses Hagedolah.
Still other sources attribute it to R. Asher Halevi of Worms (late 11th-early 12th century).
As for why it's said: ...
12
Mishna Berura 660:1:3 says that when the Sefer Torah is on the Bimah those on the Mizrach (eastern wall) turn around to face the Torah their right side is now facing Tzafon (north) therfore they start in that direction.
12
Aruch HaShulchan Orach Chayyim 551:11 (writing at the end of the nineteenth century CE) notes that two or three generations prior to his time the custom had changed (amongst the Jews of Lita) such that people wore shabbat clothes on Shabbat Chazon.
He suggests that the reason for this change is that shabbat clothes had become noticeably different from ...
11
Erlau. They dress like Hassidim and they have a rebbe, who holds a tisch, but their traditions and minhagim are Chassam Sofer strictly (In fact, the Erlauer ravs are from the direct line of the Chassam Sofer, and their surname is in fact, Sofer.). They use Ashkenaz siddur, and their culture is an Oberlander culture.
You'll also find, if you hang out ...
11
This answer assumes you're talking about conversation. My theory is that Yiddish and English, being mostly accented on the penultimate syllable, shift Hebrew to the same in natural Yiddish/Yinglish/English speech. Thus kash-RUTH becomes KASH-rus. Then the vowel on the ultimate syllable gets compressed to a shwa. KASH-rəs, which sounds like KASH-rihs.
11
I highly doubt there is any significance to such a pronunciation (although I stand to be corrected) but since you ask, here is a technical explanation (based on here and here): There are two types of sounds - ones where you use your voice, like b, d, g, f and z, and ones where you don't like p, t, k, v, and s. The ones that you use your voice for are called ...
10
Qitzur Shulhhan Arukh - Yalqut Yosef, Siman 56:11 writes (my translation):
מנהג האשכנזים כדעת הרמ''א, לעמוד בשעה שעונים קדיש וברכו, וספרדי שמתפלל עם אשכנזים, נכון שיעמוד גם הוא עמהם בעת אמירת קדיש וברכו, כדי שלא יהיה בכלל יושב בין העומדים.
The Ashkenazi custom, per the ReM"A, is to stand when responding to Qaddish and Barekhu. And, as for a Sepharadi ...
10
In the siddur Sefas Yisroel from OpenSiddur it is written:
שיר מזמור לאסף has been recited since the end of the Geonic period - a few hundred years before the introduction of the שיר של יום. Its first appearance in אשכנז was in the מחזור ויטרי,* most likely as a result of the צרות and גזירות that were imposed upon עם ישראל at the time.
And indeed it is ...
10
I've contacted Dovid Katz from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, a renown scholar of the Yiddish language (among others), who wrote numerous papers on linguistics, and his PhD dissertation discussed in detail the phonology of the language(s) that Ashkenazi Jews spoke. As I could understand of his letter and his works, there was a proto-Ashkenazi long ō ...
9
The Mishnah Berurah (OC 581:5) explains: many people have the custom to fast for ten days (including Yom Kippur) as part of seeking repentance (Levush). Starting from Rosh haShannah you lose at least four days: the two days of Rosh haShannah, Shabbat Shuvah (the Shabbat in between Rosh haShannah and Yom Kipppur) and the day before Yom Kippur (when it is ...
9
I think the main issue is not how close/far they were from one another, but who was in charge. By and large, Sepharadim were under Muslim rule, which allowed them freedoms that were not given to Ashkenazim by their Christian overlords. It was more of an Iron Curtain barrier than a distance barrier.
One might also note the consistency with which Sepharadim ...
9
There is also Peninei Halacha, from Rav Eliezer Melamed, which is not as comprehensive as Yalkut Yosef, but does go through all the main relevant halachos in Orach Chaim (and other areas of halacha too) and reaches a psak on each issue.
9
From this post it seems that some do not say it even though Pesach does not occur in the middle of the week since there is a special prohibition against any (Mleches Uman) professional work on Erev Pesach after Chatzos and in Yerushalyim many observe this for the entire Erev Pesach.
http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/toshba/minhagim/pru3.htm
כשחל יום ראשון של ...
9
The only time the munnaḥ gets the shaky trope is when it's a munnaḥ-legarmeh, which visually looks like a munnaḥ followed by a p'siq. The munnaḥ-legarmeh is a "טעם מפסיק" (a disjunctive accent), whereas the normal munnaḥ is a "טעם משרת" (a conjunctive accent), so it makes sense to give the shaky trope only to the munnaḥ-legarmeh. See any tiqqun for a list ...
9
Prof. Yedidya Alter Dinri records in his Hakhmei Ashkenaz B'Shilhi Y'mei HaBeynayim (pp. 278-9) as cited by R. Yisrael Peles in Yeshurun (20 p. 890) that many Aharonim held that Likkutei Maharil (aka Sefer Maharil) is not a fully reliable work. For example, the Yad Malakhi (klalei HaPoskim: Klalei Shaar HaMehabrim V'HaMefarshim: 33) cites R. Sh'muel Bachrach ...
9
Aruch HaShulchan 551:11
ודע שאצלינו יש שנים או שלושה דורות שאין נוהגין כמנהג הזה בשבת חזון,
אלא לובשין כל בגדי שבת. וגדולי הדור שהיו אז הנהיגו כן, באמרם שזהו
כמראים אבילות בשבת בפרהסיא.
It is important to note that for the past two or three generations we
have not been following this minhag [of wearing weekday clothing] on
Shabbos Chazon, ...
8
See the excellent article here regarding the proper nussach of zimmun.
The highlights are: that the introductory bit (everything before Nevarech she'achalnu mishelo) is based on a ruling of the Zohar quoted in the Magen Avraham quoted in the Mishna Berura (OC 192 sk 2) and in the Aruch HaShulchan (OC 192:2) which says that every "davar shebikusha" needs a ...
8
In the terminology used in the Mishnah, the Biblical shekel is called a sela, and the former half-shekel is called a shekel. (Examples are legion - see, for example, Shekalim 1:6: הנותן סלע ונוטל שקל - one who gives a sela and asks for a shekel as change.)
So it's quite correct to say that we will give a shekel.
8
First of all, it's worth noting that, with only certain key exceptions, there weren't really any yeshivas in Eastern Europe before Volozhin, their having been replaced by the beis midrash, and by a system known as kest. This was a phenomenon by which young, married men were supported by their fathers-in-law to learn Torah; they would typically live with him, ...
8
According to Chok Yaakov, cited by Shevet Halevi (OC 31), the custom to refrain from eating kitniyot begins on Erev Pesach, just the same as the prohibition of eating chametz.
8
Despite it's apparent similarity to pagan practices dating back thousands of years, this custom exists in some communities (particularly among Lubavitchers and some other Chassidic groups) and dates back at least several decades. Similar customs (such as eating colored eggs on Purim) existed in Jewish communities in Afghanistan and Yemen, and women in ...
8
The Tur Yoreh Deah 274 says in the name of the Rosh that there is no issue with the different lettering. The Meiri Shabbos 104a also indicates that there is no issue. The Noda B'Yehuda Yora Deah 171 also indicates that it is fine.
8
Taken from my answer here:
Yalkut Yosef 685:12
ומתוך ספר תורה בכתב אשכנזי, יצאו ידי חובה
וכן ההיפך, שהכל יוצאים ידי חובה בספר תורה שנכתב בכתב ספרדי, אף שהיו''ד של הצד''י נכתב כיו''ד הפוכה.
a) A Sefaradi who heard from a Ahkenazi written Sefer Torah is
Yose.
b) An Ashkenazi is also Yose from a Torah written in Sefaradi
...
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