19
votes
Zeicher vs Zecher
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 ...
- 97.3k
12
votes
Accepted
Why do we do hosha'nos and hakafos counterclockwise?
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 ...
- 139k
12
votes
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Problem with Likkutei Maharil
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 ...
- 35.4k
12
votes
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Pronouncing "O" (Cholam) as "Oy"?
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 ...
- 7,434
12
votes
Shabbat clothing on shabbat chazon
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 ...
- 41.7k
10
votes
Accepted
Why do yekkes say Shir Mizmor Le'Osof each morning?
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 ...
- 7,434
9
votes
Accepted
Is there any basis for Chabad minhagim regarding tallit gadol?
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 ...
- 18.5k
9
votes
Shabbat clothing on shabbat chazon
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.
...
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7
votes
Any books dealing with minhaggim of Lita?
Minhagei Lita (Customs of Lithuanian Jewry) by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Poliakoff.
It should be noted that this work has been critiqued as reflecting the author's personal experiences, not historic ...
- 35.4k
7
votes
6
votes
Accepted
What are some instances in which ashkenazim do NOT follow Rama?
This is a community-wiki answer for Orach Chayim. Please edit it.
Common practice is not like 31:2 in that most do not say a blessing on tefillin on chol hamoed even quietly.
Common practice is not ...
6
votes
Accepted
Basis for not doing a full sof-aliya trop on Hashem's name
You asked:
Is there any basis in halacha or firmly established minhag for this, or is it merely a personal quirk of a few people?
According to Rav שמואל פנחס גלברד it's a Minhag originating in ...
- 42.8k
6
votes
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Is the existence of Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions a violation of "Lo Titgodedu"?
The Gemara (Yevamot 14a) says (regarding if Beis Shammai followed their own Psak):
ומ"ד עשו קרינן כאן (דברים יד, א) לא תתגודדו לא תעשו אגודות אגודות אמר אביי כי אמרינן לא תתגודדו כגון שתי בתי דינים ...
- 40.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Reading the megillah without the taamim (cantillation)
Yes. The Esther chant of the Spanish-Portuguese community, for instance, is not reflective of the cantillation. If you want to hear recordings of the Amsterdam and London communities reciting it per ...
- 225
6
votes
Accepted
Missing Traditional Half-Kaddish Melodies
I'm going to assume you know most of the traditional half kaddish tunes, like those on Shabbat and weekdays, Arvit on the High Holidays, as well as those after Yishtabach and before Musaf (including ...
- 97.3k
5
votes
What was the prevailing custom for arranging the seder plate among Bohemian Jewry?
According to Rabbi Shlomo Binyamin Hamburger, author of Shorshei Minhag Ashkenaz and founder of Machon Moreshet Ashkenaz, the Yekke minhag is to arrange the seder plate according to what the Rema ...
- 6,966
5
votes
What are some instances in which ashkenazim do NOT follow Rama?
This is a community-wiki answer for Yoreh Deah. Please edit it.
Common practice is not like 87:3: even at chicken-main-dish banquets with creamer, the creamer has a notice.
Common practice is not ...
5
votes
Accepted
Ashkenazim drinking from the glass in non-kosher restaurants
As you said -- Shulchan Aruch allows one to use a cold, clean non-kosher dish or cup "derech arai" -- occasionally. No taste will transfer, and if only done on rare occasion, we're not concerned you ...
- 131k
5
votes
Accepted
Why don't I see the minhag to put grass in shul?
While your thought, that the Vilna Gaon only prohibited trees, has become popular recently with the popularization of Christmas trees, it's not historically accurate. He prohibited greenery on Shavuot ...
- 97.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Ashkenazi shat”z?
The Halocho is to be found in Sh O, O Ch 53 (12) who paskens like the gemoro
אין ממנין מי שקור' לאלפי"ן עייני"ן ולעייני"ן אלפי"ן:
One should not appoint a person [to be leader] who reads "...
- 47.2k
4
votes
Why do Ashkenazim eat Milchigs (dairy) on Shavuos?
See Sefer יומא דעצרתא which gives 32 reasons why we eat dairy on Shavuos in the section ייני אם חלבי. Among them are:
(reason 18) we try to minimize our Simcha since David Hamelech died then.
(...
- 5,365
4
votes
What does the munach say?
There are really 4 kinds of Munach: Legarmeih, Munach, Ilui, and Mekhurbal (AKA Karbalta). Legarmeih is disjunctive (pausal), and the other three are conjunctive (connective).
Legarmeih is always ...
- 97.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Should one stand while removing tefillin?
The earliest source I am aware of for standing while removing tefillin is the 14th century kabbalistic ma'arekhet haelohut. (cited in Beit Yossef OH 28). He states this specifically regarding the head ...
- 35.4k
4
votes
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Why do older Anglo Ashkenaz texts transliterate ת as "th" and how was it pronounced?
As the Jewish Encyclopedia states,
to the middle of the nineteenth century no attempt was made to elaborate a scientific system of transcription of Hebrew in foreign characters, and every one ...
- 7,434
4
votes
Shacharit on י"א תשרי
The Be'er Heitiv 624:6 also notes to daven early, the morning after Yom Kippur.
- 41k
3
votes
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Do you have to have a dead relative named Alexander to name your child Alexander?
You may name a child not after a relative or teacher. Source: several Ashkenazic talmide chachamim I know who have done so.
- 73.7k
3
votes
Sefer similar to Yalkut Yosef for Ashkenazim
There is an amazing set called Tzurbah M'Rabannan. It goes through the whole Shulchan Aruch(not every single siman though). It is very relvant halachaos but is taught from gemara down to modern day ...
- 41k
3
votes
Why are Ashkenazi haftarahs longer than that of Sephardim?
The Shulchan Aruch in סימן רפד - דיני הפטרה וברכותיה says that the Haftarah should be at least 21 verses long, unless the theme ends beforehand.
א מַפְטִירִין בַּנָּבִיא מֵעִנְיָנָהּ שֶׁל ...
- 42.8k
3
votes
Group Kaddish for Ashkenazim – Sources
May Multiple People Say Kaddish Simultaneously? goes through a long analysis of the subject but does not come to a conclusion as to when the minhag changed. He does point out that Rav Yaakov Emden ...
- 42.9k
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