Nusach Ashkenaz
Encyclopedia
Nusach Ashkenaz is a style of Jewish religious service conducted by Ashkenazi Jews
, originating from Central and Western Europe.
It is primarily a way to order and include prayers, and differs from Nusach Sefard
(as used by the Hasidim
), and still more from the Sephardic rite proper, in the placement and presence of certain prayers.
It may be subdivided into the German, or Western, branch, used in Western and Central Europe including the United Kingdom, and the Polish/Lithuanian branch, used in Eastern Europe, the United States and by some Israeli Ashkenazim, particularly those who identify as "Lithuanian
".
claimed that the Ashkenazi rite is descended from the ancient rite of Eretz Yisrael, while the Sephardi rite is descended from Babylonia. Haham Moses Gaster
, in his introduction to the prayer book of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews
, 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 Palestinian usages surviving the process of standardization: in a list of differences preserved from the time of the Geonim
, most of the usages recorded as Palestinian are now obsolete.
The earliest recorded form of the Ashkenazi rite, in the broadest sense, may be found in an early medieval prayer book called Machzor Vitry. This however, like the Siddur Rashi of a century later, records the Old French rite rather than the Ashkenazi (German) rite proper, though the differences are small: the Old French rite survives today only in the form of certain usages of the Appam community of North-West Italy. Both the Old French and the Ashkenazi rites have a loose family resemblance to other ancient European rites such as the Italian, Romaniote
and Provençal
rites, and to a lesser extent to the Catalonian 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.
Medieval Ashkenazi scholars stated that the Ashkenazi rite is largely derived from the Seder Rav Amram Gaon
and minor
Talmud
ic tractate Massechet Soferim
. This may be true, but does not support a claim of Babylonian origin as argued by Haham Gaster: as pointed out by Louis Ginzberg
the Seder Rav Amram Gaon had itself been heavily edited to reflect the Old Spanish rite. The Ashkenazi rite also contains a quantity of early liturgical poetry from Eretz Yisrael that has been eliminated from other rites, and this fact was the main support for Zunz's theory.
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
, originating from Central and Western Europe.
It is primarily a way to order and include prayers, and differs from Nusach Sefard
Nusach Sefard
Nusach Sefard is the name for various forms of the Jewish siddur, designed to reconcile Ashkenazi customs with the kabbalistic customs of the Ari. To this end it has incorporated the wording of Nusach Edot Mizrach, the prayer book of Sefardi Jews, into certain prayers...
(as used by the Hasidim
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
), and still more from the Sephardic rite proper, in the placement and presence of certain prayers.
It may be subdivided into the German, or Western, branch, used in Western and Central Europe including the United Kingdom, and the Polish/Lithuanian branch, used in Eastern Europe, the United States and by some Israeli Ashkenazim, particularly those who identify as "Lithuanian
Lithuanian Jews
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks are Jews with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania:...
".
History
Leopold ZunzLeopold Zunz
Leopold Zunz was a German Reform rabbi and writer, the founder of what has been termed "Jewish Studies" or "Judaic Studies" , the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and ritual...
claimed that the Ashkenazi rite is descended from the ancient rite of Eretz Yisrael, while the Sephardi rite is descended from Babylonia. Haham Moses Gaster
Moses Gaster
Moses Gaster was a Romanian-born Jewish-British scholar, the Hakham of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation, London, and a Hebrew linguist. He was also the son-in-law of Michael Friedländer, principal of Jews' College. The surname Gaster is taken from Spanish Castro, indicating his Sephardic...
, in his introduction to the prayer book of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on...
, 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 Palestinian usages surviving the process of standardization: in a list of differences preserved from the time of the Geonim
Geonim
Geonim were the presidents of the two great Babylonian, Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community world wide in the early medieval era, in contrast to the Resh Galuta who wielded secular authority...
, most of the usages recorded as Palestinian are now obsolete.
The earliest recorded form of the Ashkenazi rite, in the broadest sense, may be found in an early medieval prayer book called Machzor Vitry. This however, like the Siddur Rashi of a century later, records the Old French rite rather than the Ashkenazi (German) rite proper, though the differences are small: the Old French rite survives today only in the form of certain usages of the Appam community of North-West Italy. Both the Old French and the Ashkenazi rites have a loose family resemblance to other ancient European rites such as the Italian, Romaniote
Romaniotes
The Romaniotes or Romaniots are a Jewish population who have lived in the territory of today's Greece and neighboring areas with large Greek populations for more than 2,000 years. Their languages were Yevanic, a Greek dialect, and Greek. They derived their name from the old name for the people...
and Provençal
Hachmei Provence
The term Hachmei Provence refers to the Jewish rabbis of Provence, a province in southern France, which was a great Torah center in the times of the Tosafists...
rites, and to a lesser extent to the Catalonian and Old Spanish rites: the current Sephardic rite has since been standardized to conform with the rulings of the Geonim
Geonim
Geonim were the presidents of the two great Babylonian, Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community world wide in the early medieval era, in contrast to the Resh Galuta who wielded secular authority...
, thereby showing some degree of convergence with the Babylonian and North African rites.
Medieval Ashkenazi scholars stated that the Ashkenazi rite is largely derived from the Seder Rav Amram Gaon
Amram Gaon
Amram Gaon was a famous Gaon or head of the Jewish Talmud Academy of Sura in the 9th century. He was the author of many Responsa, but his chief work was liturgical.He was the first to arrange a complete liturgy for the synagogue...
and minor
Minor tractate
The minor tractates are essays from the Tannaitic period or later dealing with topics about which no formal tractate exists in the Mishnah. They may thus be contrasted to the Tosefta, whose tractates parallel those of the Mishnah...
Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ic tractate Massechet Soferim
Soferim (Talmud)
Soferim is a Talmudic treatise dealing especially with the rules relating to the preparation of the holy books, as well as with the regulations for the reading of the Law. It belongs to the so-called "smaller tractates," a term applied to about 15 works in rabbinical literature, each containing...
. This may be true, but does not support a claim of Babylonian origin as argued by Haham Gaster: as pointed out by Louis Ginzberg
Louis Ginzberg
Rabbi Louis Ginzberg was a Talmudist and leading figure in the Conservative Movement of Judaism of the twentieth century. He was born on November 28, 1873, in Kovno, Lithuania; he died on November 11, 1953, in New York City.-Biographical background:...
the Seder Rav Amram Gaon had itself been heavily edited to reflect the Old Spanish rite. The Ashkenazi rite also contains a quantity of early liturgical poetry from Eretz Yisrael that has been eliminated from other rites, and this fact was the main support for Zunz's theory.
Ashkenazi usages
- TefillinTefillinTefillin also called phylacteries are a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers. Although "tefillin" is technically the plural form , it is loosely used as a singular as...
are worn on the intermediate days of festivals (except on Shabbat). - Separate blessings are said for the arm tefillin and the head tefillin.
- The second blessing before the Shema begins "Ahavah rabbah" in the morning service and "Ahavat olam" in the evening.
- In the summer months the second blessing of the AmidahAmidahThe Amidah , also called the Shmoneh Esreh , is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. This prayer, among others, is found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book...
contains no reference to dew or rain (Sephardim insert the words morid ha-tal, "who makes the dew fall"). - The kedushah of the morning service begins "neqaddesh et shimcha", and the kedushah of musaf (the additional service for ShabbatShabbatShabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
and festivals) begins "na'aritz'cha ve-naqdish'cha". - There is one standard wording for the "Birkat ha-Shanim", with only small variations between summer and winter.
- The Birkat ha-KohanimPriestly BlessingThe Priestly Blessing, , also known in Hebrew as Nesiat Kapayim, , or Dukhanen , is a Jewish prayer recited by Kohanim during certain Jewish services...
(or Barechenu, which is a substitute for it) is said in minhah (the afternoon service) of fast days in general and not only on Yom KippurYom KippurYom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
. - The last blessing of the AmidahAmidahThe Amidah , also called the Shmoneh Esreh , is the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. This prayer, among others, is found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book...
is "Sim shalom" in the morning service and "Shalom rav" in the afternoon and evening services. - The Torah scroll is lifted and displayed to the congregation after the Torah reading rather than before.
- It is customary to stand for KaddishKaddishKaddish is a prayer found in the Jewish prayer service. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy different versions of the Kaddish are used functionally as separators between sections of the service...
. - En Kelohenu concludes with a stanza about the making of incense.
- Adon OlamAdon OlamAdon Olam is a strictly metrical hymn in the Jewish liturgy. It has been a regular part of the daily and Sabbath liturgy since the 15th century...
has only five stanzas. - The morning service on Shabbat concludes with the Shir ha-Kavod (song of glory)
- It is a binding custom to avoid rice or beansKitniyotKitniyot, qit'niyyoth are a category of foods which are defined by Jewish law and tradition that Ashkenazi Jews avoid eating during the Biblical festival of Passover....
on Passover. - Blessings are said over all four glasses of wine at the Passover Seder.
- SeliḥotSelichotSelichot or slichot are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on Fast Days...
do not begin until the Shabbat before Rosh HashanahRosh HashanahRosh Hashanah , , is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora'im which occur in the autumn...
. - One set of HanukkahHanukkahHanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
lights is lit by each member of a household. - The shammash is used to light the other HanukkahHanukkahHanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
lights.
See also
- MinhagMinhagMinhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, Nusach , refers to the traditional order and form of the prayers...
- NusachNusachNusach is a concept in Judaism that has two distinct meanings. One is the style of a prayer service ; another is the melody of the service depending on when the service is being conducted.-Meaning of term:Nusach primarily means "text" or "version", in...
- Nusach SefardNusach SefardNusach Sefard is the name for various forms of the Jewish siddur, designed to reconcile Ashkenazi customs with the kabbalistic customs of the Ari. To this end it has incorporated the wording of Nusach Edot Mizrach, the prayer book of Sefardi Jews, into certain prayers...
- Nusach AriNusach AriNusach Ari means, in a general sense, any prayer rite following the usages of Rabbi Isaac Luria, the AriZal, in the 16th century, and, more particularly, the version of it used by Chabad Hasidim....
- Sephardic law and customs
- Ashkenazi JewsAshkenazi JewsAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
External links
- Machon Moreshet Ashkenaz Site devoted to the Western Ashkenazi (and specifically German) tradition
- K'hal Adas Yeshurun Cantorial music in the Western Ashkenazi tradition
- What was considered Nusach Ashkenaz throughout the years
- http://www.shulmusic.org Choral music in the Western Ashkenazi tradition
- Sages of Ashkenaz database