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 ...
Double AA's user avatar
  • 97.3k
12 votes
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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 ...
Gershon Gold's user avatar
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 ...
mevaqesh's user avatar
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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 ...
Kazi bácsi's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Joel K's user avatar
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10 votes
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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 ...
Kazi bácsi's user avatar
  • 7,434
9 votes
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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 ...
ezra's user avatar
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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. ...
Dr. Shmuel's user avatar
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 ...
mevaqesh's user avatar
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7 votes

Shacharit on י"א תשרי

This custom is noted in Matteh Ephraim 624:14.
Joel K's user avatar
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6 votes
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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
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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 ...
Danny Schoemann's user avatar
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 ...
ertert3terte's user avatar
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6 votes
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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 ...
Isaac Mayer's user avatar
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 ...
Double AA's user avatar
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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 ...
Popular Isn't Right's user avatar
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 ...
Shalom's user avatar
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5 votes
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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 ...
Double AA's user avatar
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5 votes
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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 "...
Avrohom Yitzchok's user avatar
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. (...
Eliyahu's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Double AA's user avatar
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4 votes
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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 ...
mevaqesh's user avatar
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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 ...
Kazi bácsi's user avatar
  • 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.
sam's user avatar
  • 41k
3 votes
Accepted

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.
msh210's user avatar
  • 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 ...
sam's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Danny Schoemann's user avatar
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 ...
sabbahillel's user avatar
  • 42.9k

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