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
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
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
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 ...
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
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 ...
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
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 ...
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 ...
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
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 ...
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
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
Your second answer seems to be closest... As far as we can tell, scrolls in the ancient world were kept wrapped in cloth and stored in wooden cases or boxes. The Gemara attests both to mitpahot [cloth wrappers] (Megillah 26a) and a tik [wooden case] (Megillah 26b) used to store sifrei Torah.
Bracha Yaniv's article on Torah scroll accessories in the Balkans ...
8
First of all, it should be noted that there is a custom to say "Av Harachamim" on the four Parshios-Shabbosos as well. The custom not to say it is in the Darkei Moshe in the name of the Maharail (Siman 685), and seems to be the custom of the Magen Avraham and R. Yaakov Lorberbaum of Lissa (in his Siddur, Derech Hachayim). However, the Eliyah Rabba (685:18) ...
8
The Magen Avraham (OC 474:1 and similarly in Taz there) explains that each of the four cups is a separate mitzva, and it is therefore considered as if he had in mind specifically not to exempt the other cups with his Brocha. The Pri Megadim adds that it is preferable to actually have this in explicitly in mind.
The Minchas Shlomo (vol. 1 18:6) questions ...
8
There was in minhag in the Alt-Neu Shul in Prague of saying Mizmor Shir L'Yom Ha Shabbat twice on Friday evenings.
This psalm (Song for the Sabbath Day) is usually recited toward the end of the Kabbalat Shabbat service. Traditionally, reciting this psalm was the point when the worshiper began to observe the restrictions of Shabbat. This created a conflict ...
8
Just because something is called a "delicatessen" and serves traditional Eastern European fare does not mean that the restaurant and its food conforms to the ritual and dietary standards of Kosher laws. Under these laws, meat and dairy are consumed separately and a restaurant, if it wanted to have rabbinical supervision, would have to serve one or the other.
...
8
I emailed Rabbi Eliezer Zalmanov (from Chabad.org) about your question. Here's what I said:
B''H
In most Ashkenazi communities, the custom is that bochurim do not wear a tallis. However, when a bochur is called to the Torah or to the amud, he puts one on anyway, although he makes sure not to cover his head with the tallis so that it's not considered an ...
8
Rav Herschel Schachter has written a Teshuvah that Ashkenazim may eat soft Matzah. See here* for a discussion of his Teshuvah and some follow-up questions and answers about it.
*Be advised that this is taken from a commercial site selling a product under the umbrella of "approved by Rav Schachter". It is, however, a real Teshuvah, and the discussion that ...
8
A description of the ceremony is given in מדריך
למנהג אשכנז המובהק.
My translation:
On that Shabbos when the mother of the new born goes to synagogue, a
"Chol Kreisch"is made for the child. On the day of the miloh the
child acquired his Jewish name by which he will be called to the Torah
and on this Shabbos he is given his secular name. For ...
8
According to Hebrew Wikipedia he received Semicha from the Chacham Tzvi.
קיבל סמיכה מאת החכם צבי
Still following the trail at Hebrew WP, he, in turn, learned from his grandfather, R' Ephraim Hakohen (אפרים הכהן), author of the commentary Machaneh Ephraim on the Torah.
He, in turn, learned from R' Moshe Lima (משה לימא), author of the commentary Chelkat ...
7
When a Koehein is called to duchan ("Kohanim!"), there is a mitzvah d'oraysa for him to go up and say the blessings. For somewhat unclear reasons, this practice was abandoned among Ashkenazi Jewry except for on yomim tovim. This means that Kohanim are missing the opportunity to fullfil the mitzvah, but they are not going against the mitzvah as long as they ...
7
The primary source for the orientation of the words of the Mezuzah is a cryptic Yerushalmi (Megillah 4:12) which states:
ר' זעורא בשם שמואל צריך שיהא שמע שלה רואה את הפתח
R' Ze'ura [said] in the name of Shemuel: [the Mezuzah] needs to be such that its 'Shema' sees the opening.
For Rashi (Menachot 33a sv כמין), Rambam (Hilchot Mezuzah 5:8), and the ...
7
Hazon Ovadia Purim pg. 199
מה שנוהגים להתחפש וללבוש מסיכות בפורים, אין כל איסור בדבר.
It is Mutar to dress up Purim.
What is Asur on Purim?
Cross dressing
Inviting magicians
Making fun of the Rabbis on Purim
(All from Yalkut Yosef 695)
7
This is the ruling of Rabbi Yosef Karo in Shulchan Aruch OC 489:8 and Rabbi Moshe Isserles does not comment. Additionally, Aruch haShulchan (:15) and Shulchan Aruch haRav (:25) cite this ruling approvingly and Mishna Berura (:38) does not note any dissenters.
7
I have been compiling a German siddur for the past fifteen years. It is currently available on www.thebookpatch.com:
http://www.thebookpatch.com/BookStoreDetails.aspx?BookID=19123&ID=0da30d3e-df41-4b72-bdbe-ee301d7f0000
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