Opuscula היקר or Different strokes For different folks

IT IS AMAZING that after centuries of dispersion and diversion, that most of our practices are similar.

There are, however, a few differences that make life interesting.

The following considers only traditional Jewish practices. Contact a Conservative, Reform, or other religious leader to learn how it is done in their congregation — if it is done at all.

 

 

There are many books on the differences, and anyone picking up sedurim (prayer books) and machzorim (prayer books for the festivals) can compare them.

However, the best book I have found is by R. Israel Meir Lau. His book,
יהדות הלכה למעשה .

R. Lau discusses different traditions and never claims that one minhag is “kosher” and another is not “kosher.” R. Lau is highly respected in both Sefardi/Mizrachi and Ashkenazi communities for his wisdom and openness. The book is written in relatively easy Hebrew (that is, I can read and understand it, and Hebrew for me is a distant second to English).

The following is not concerned with either the order of prayers or piyutim that often are unique to a geographical area.

 

Going out and Coming in

Jewish fellow is considering a move into a retirement home.

He notices that there are no mezuzot (mezuzahs) on the doors.

He asks the sales person about the absence of mezuzot.

Sales person: You’ve heard about central tv antennas on the roof?

Jew: Yes, sure.

Sales person: We have a central mezzuzah.

 

While I have seen mezuzot on a slant in some Sefardi homes — and I have seen Sefardi homes with both slanted and vertical mezuzot; היקר שיש מזוזות the important thing is that there are mezuzot on the doors.

Originally mezuzot were mounted vertically, like a sans serif “I”. I am given to understand that R. Tam wanted to mount the mezuzot horizontally (–). In order to honor both R. Tam and his grandfather, Rashi, the people decided to affix the mezzuzah on a slant (\). Since both Rashi and R. Tam were Ashkenazi, Ashkenazi mezuzot generally are mounted on a slant.

Sefardim pretty much mount their mezuzot straight up and down.

To the best of my knowledge, the SIZE of the kosher klaf doesn’t matter, but it seems logical that the smaller the klaf, the more expensive since the sofer stam (writer of Sefer Torah, Tefillin, and Mezuzot) faces a greater challenge to write tiny, properly formed letters.

The mezzuzah case may be whatever suits your fancy, but outdoor cases should be made to keep out moisture. In some ancient instances, spaces were dug out of plaster, the klaf inserted and the plaster sealed with the klaf in place. The klaf is what’s important, not the “house” (בית) that holds it.

היקר that there are mezuzot at the doors.

What needs mezuzot and what dosen’t? Ask your rabbi.

 

Singles’ ID

Most Sefardim and Mizrachim males start wearing a large tallit (תלות גדול) at their bar mitzvah. Many Ashkenazi males have a tradition to only don a large tallit when called to the Torah.

Why? Ashkenazi tradition holds that a man cannot be happy, and worthy of being adorned with a tallit until he is married. Once wed, the Ashkenazi male wears his tallit at morning services. (Ashkenazim also wear a tallit when leading afternoon and evening services; Sefardim do not.)

A girl looking for a hatan (husband) only has to look at the men sans tallit gadol to know who is eligible. Pity the Sefardi miss — all the men from bar mitzvah age up are wearing a large tallit. How’s a poor girl to know? (Just ask; every mother knows which males are unattached.)

Among those who wear a tallit katan or “arba kanfot,” there are those who wear the tzit-tzit (strings) outside their trousers and those who tuck them in.

While there may be 50 ways to leave your lover¹, there probably are as many ways to put on a large tallit. A student of tallit wearers might be able to tell who is what by the way the tallit is put on, much as a student of the harideem can tell to what sect a man belongs by his head covering (or the way he wears his socks).

The one thing consistent is that the large tallit must be big enough to enwrap the person and to have two tzit-tzit in front and two in back; a “scarf” is too small to meet the enwrapping and front-and-back tzit-tzit requirements.

There are perhaps a half-dozen ways to tie the knots in the tzit-tzit. Two predominate. The primary ways to knot tzit-tzit are “kosher” if they are otherwise kosher tzit-tzit.

The most common knot-wrap combinations are 10-5 & 6-5 and 7-8-11-13.

 

Slapping leather

As with donning the tallit, there are many ways to put on tefillin.

Ashkenazim generally wrap inward (clockwise) while Sefardim wrap outward (counter-clockwise).

Almost all hand tefillin will be wrapped someplace to form the letter shin (ש). For Ashkenazim, the shin usually is on the hand; for Sefaridim, usually on the bicep.

Everyone wraps seven complete turns. Usually there is a half turn above the elbow and a half turn at the wrist. These half-turns do not count as part of the seven.

Everyone I’ve seen makes three wraps around their middle finger, but there are variations on that, too.

May a Sefardi wear Ashkenazi tefillin and vice versa. Ask your rabbi. There IS a slight difference in the way the paragraphs are spaced on the klaf. (I am not a posek and I don’t play one on tv.) Beyond the spacing issue, to wear the other minhag’s tefillin means rearranging the strap on the hand tefillin. Just remember to put the strap (רצועה) back the way it was.

Sefaridim sit when putting on the hand tefillin and stand when putting on the head tefillin. Only one blessing is recited (for the hand) as long as there are no interruptions between the hand and head tefillin. Ashkenazim stand for both and recite separate blessings for both. The tefillin yad (hand) is wrapped bicep-to-the hand, the head tefillin is put on, and then the hand tefillin is completed with the wraps around the finger.

Taking off the tefillin is done in reverse to the way they were put on.

Many sedurim have “how to” pictures, but beware, the pictures are for the minhag of the sedur.

Sefardim leave their tefillin in the bag during festivals, including the intermediate days (hol ha’moed). Ashkenazim put on tefillin during hol ha’moed. In a congregation dominated by Ashkenazim, the Sefardim may be asked to find a new place to pray the morning prayers. (See “Basic Rule: When in Rome…” later in this effort.)

היקר that men don tefillin on weekdays.

 

Standing for the “18”

There are a few obvious differences between the ahmedah (עמידה) or “18” for Ashkenazim and for Sefardim/Mizrachim..

Ouch

Ashkenazim smack their chest when they say סלח לנו (forgive us). Sephardim do not.

Summer prayer and winter prayer

Sefardim have separate paragraphs for summer and for winter while Ashkenazim simply change a few words to go from tal (dew) in the summer to tal and matar (rain) for winter.

Cohanim

In Sefardi/Mizrachi congregations, cohanim bless the kahal (congregation) at every morning service since the Torah clearly states that the cohanim are “commanded to bless the people Israel in love”
וצונו לברך את עמו ישראל באהבה
On days when musaf is read, the cohanim in Sefardi congregations bless the people again.

Depending on which Ashkenazi tradition is followed, and where the person is making minyan, the cohanim may bless the congregation on festivals and/or during the 10 days.

In my mixed Sefardi/Mizrachi and Ashkenazi congregation, the cohanim are Ashkenazi, but they bless the congregation at every opportunity.

Basic rule: When in Rome . . . In other words, if an Ashkenazi is praying in a congregation where the majority are Sephardim/Mizrachim, the Ashkenazi should follow the majority’s minhag; and vice versa, of course.

There are debates in many congregations
  Should only married cohanim be allowed to bless the congregation?
  Should a pre-bar mitzvah boy be allowed to bless the congregation?

If a cohen cannot, or refuses, to bless the congregation, the cohen leaves the room until the blessing is completed.

Crossed legs

In some (read Moroccan) congregations if a person sits with crossed legs he may be asked to either (a) uncross his legs or (b) leave (willingly or under escort). This is an Arab thing; showing the sole of your shoe or foot is a huge insult among Arabs. ² If showing the sole of a shoe is an insult to a human judge (in Morocco); how much more of an insult to the Judge of Judges!

This may go beyond Morocco to all North African and, perhaps, Mizrachi congregations, too.

 

Shake, shake, shake your lulav

Ashkenazim generally stand in one spot and shake their lulav to the west (assuming they are facing east) over their shoulder.

Sefardim and Mizrachim on the other hand, turn to each direction, and always clockwise. Within the Sefardi community there are different traditions. The Moroccan tradition is

    South

    North

    East

    Up

    Down

    West

The important thing is to “bench Lulav,” as the Ashkenazim say.

In most Sefardi congregations, a person sans lulav and etrog still can join the hakafot (the walk around the reader’s stand where the sefri Torah are placed). More typically, one person loans his lulav and etrog to another — on the condition that it be returned — to the other person can make the walk with the symbols of the festival.

היקר that there are lulavs to wave and etrogim to hold.

 

 

Sources

1. 50 ways: https://tinyurl.com/yakcdfwq

2. Sole insult: https://tinyurl.com/yahfsjmh

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Differences

Opuscula Don’t tell me How to shake My lulav!

OUR MINYAN TODAY (it was the second day of Sukot) hit a rough spot.
Mostly we are a bunch of easy going men; it’s a mixture of Sefardim and Ashkenazim. But today, failing to learn from the past, the person who organized the minyan committed the faux pas of his predecessor.

WHAT OUTRAGE DID THIS MAN CAUSE?

He had the hazan tell us the ”correct” way to wave the lulav.

UNFORTUNATELY, how the lulav is waved is a matter of MINHAG.

There is an Ashkenazi way.

There is a North African way.

There is a “Yerushalmi” way.

I am sure there are sub-sets of each of the above and many I don’t know about.

A year ago we had a different person at the helm and he made the same mistake.

“You must do it the Yerushalmi way.” (He was ignored and later left to form his own minyan. We wish him success with the blessing for the czar.)

Not “this is the Yerushalmi way,” but this is the way it will be done.

The former “helmsman” and the current “helmsman” often were at odds despite having the same general background.

Its is not that the Yerushalmi way is “wrong,” or that the other ways are wrong.

I follow Moroccan minhag.

I have two sedurim: וזרח השמש and אבותינו . BOTH books tell me that “in this city and surrounding area, people do it this way, while in another area people do it differently.”

Never mind that BOTH places are in Morocco.

I also have, thanks to my Syrian brother-in-law (once removed), a copy of R. Israel Meir Lau's excellent יחדות הלכה למעשה that addresses issues from multiple traditions. (R. Lau was Chief (Ashkenazi) Rabbi of Israel and has the respect of observant Jews of all types.)

If a former chief rabbi can accommodate/recognize minhagim other than his own, surely our minyan “helmsman” — an otherwise nice enough fellow — can do the same.

If the rabbinical luminaries in Morocco — and there are many — and Israel can do likewise for those who follow Moroccan traditions, it seems to me that we all should follow their lead and be accepting of different minhagim.

I will concede that a Sefardi or Mizrachi Jew needs to keep a sharp eye on the Ashkenazi standing next o him since the Ashkenazi — rather than turning around and around as the Sefardi and Mizrachi do, at some point waves his lulav over his shoulder — possibly a dangerous move to anyone standing nearby.

As long as no one is injured by a waving lulav, what is wrong with a mix of minhagim in a small congregation?

True, the basic rule is that everyone “follows the rov (majority),” and I know of an Orthodox Ashkenazi rabbi who chases Sefardim and Mizrachim out of his minyan during hol ha’moed because Ashkenazim don tefillin during those days and Sefaridim don’t. (On the other hand, Ashkenazim don a tallit when leading minhah and marariv (aravet). Should they be banned from a mostly-Sefardi minyan?) If you have a basic minyan and you banish anyone, there goes the minyan and THAT is everyone’s loss.

Some Ashkenazim build sukot with sold wood walls so the wind will not move them. Sefaridim often use colorful sheets. (Did anyone have solid walls when we wandered around the midbar (wilderness) for 40 years? I suppose the question could be asked: “Did we have colorful kingsize sheets back then?”)

When did we ‐ Jews — become so narrow-minded that we cannot accommodate other traditions as long as they are within basic halacah?

We manage to (more or less) accommodate different pronunciations of Hebrew, even if sometimes the meaning is questionable. I’m referring not only to the variations between Ashkenazi Hebrew and Sephardi Hebrew, but between Yemenite Hebrew as well.

Making an issue of how to wave a lulav, especially in a mixed minyan is, to my mind שטיות ומיץ עגבניות.

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

Comment on Lulav

Opuscula Talking through Their black hats

 

THE BLACK HAT POLITICIANS, both Ashkenazi and Sefardi, are up in arms because

    The Israeli government is making noises to recognize that some Jews are neither haredi or heloni but, oy the world is ending, Conservative or Reform

   Women and the LGBT community are about to have a government-sanctioned place at "The Wall"

   Government mikvehs are to be opened to ALL Jews, even Conservative and Reform Jews (can you see the water roiling?)

   There is a non-extremist movement that would perform halakic (according to Jewish law) conversions.

IT'S OK FOR A HELONI WHO barely knows there are three pilgrimage holidays and thinks there is only one new year - January 1, and it's OK for an atheistic Jewish male to visit the wall in the haredi section for men or an agnostic Jew to visit a mikveh - although why an either would do so is beyond my ken.

An ignorant Jew never has his or her Jewishness challenged by the black hats as long as the Jew is NOT affiliated with either Conservative or Reform movements.. A knowledgeable Conservative or Reform - or, one guesses, a Humanistic or any other non-Orthodox sect - Jew is not a Jew, at least according to the black hats.

Sadly, one of the most outspoken Sefardi Jews is the son of the late Hakham Ovadia Yosef - R. David Yosef.

According to R. David, "Reform Jews are 'idolaters' while Conservative Jews don't practice real Judaism

I wonder how many Conservative and Reform people he knows - and would he even SPEAK to a Reform or Conservative Jew?

R. David is, unfortunately, not alone.

When a politician, Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, visited a school that was aligned with the Conservative movement, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau criticized the Education Minister's visit. Unfortunately for Jews of all varieties who respected R. Lau's father, the son is closer to to Sefardi counterpart, R. David Yosef in his bigotry than to his father, R. Israel Meir Lau, in his father's effort to bring Jews closer together.

R. Samuel Eliyahu, one of the most prominent leaders of the hard-right wing of the national religious community said the non-Orthodox movements were bringing about a “spiritual holocaust.”

“The Reform and Conservatives are our brothers, but their path is a disaster, there’s no delicate way to put it, and it is forbidden to to give them encouragement, as a path by, drawing them close,” said Eliyahu.

But if they are our brothers and if the haredi think they have "gone astray," wouldn't it be logical to meet with them to show them "the correct path?"

R. Yaakov Ariel, one of the most respected national religious rabbis in the country, said that “Reform [Judaism] isn’t Judaism… it is forbidden for a man who observes the Torah and commandments to recognize the Reform.”

Even other black hats are victims of R. David's foul tongue.

R. David Says Rabbi David Stav is a ‘Reformed Jew With A Kippa’

For more on R. Stav, see http://www.jewishpress.com/tag/rabbi-david-stav/ and the institute he heads http://www.tzohar.org.il/English/founders-and-leadership/.

FORTUNATELY, not all "Orthodox" rabbis are are bigoted as Hakham David.

The Chief Rabbi of Efrat, R. Shlomo Riskin, contends that Reform or Orthodox, we must embrace every Jew.

If we cannot interact with them, how can they be embraced?

Even RASHBI realized that not everyone needed to be as observant as he and his son - even if HaShem had to make that point clear to him.

Is a Conservative or Reform Jew worse than HaAher?

Truth in blogging: I am neither Conservative or Reform, but I have friends who are one or the other. I am not comfortable in their services, but many have a wealth of Jewish knowledge and a love of Judaism that must be acknowledged and appreciated.

Rabbis for our time

R. Israel Meir Lau

R. Haim Meir Drukman

Although I follow Sefardi rabbis, there are two Ashkenazi rabbis that have earned my respect, both for what they teach and how they act.

R. Israel Meir Lau I was "introduced" to R. Lau by my Syrian, son-of-a-rabbi brother-in-law (once removed)* who gifted me with a book R. Lau wrote when he was Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. He later was Chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Israel.

I learned to respect the rabbi as I read his book, "יהדות הלכה למעשה". In it he cites halacha, noting that there are differences of approach according to the traditions of the many different groups that constitute Judaism.

Unlike the haridim of Mea Sharim or Been Brak, R. Lau realizes - as do most non-Shas Sefardim and Mizrahim - that "a Jew is a Jew" regardless of how he covers his head (velvet kippa or knitted kippa) or not at all. The Law - from the Torah as interpreted by the rabbis of the talmuds and the likes of the universally accepted Maran and Rash"i - is The Law. The rabbis, particularly those of the haridim, have remade The Law to suit themselves and have ostracized everyone who fails to follow their version of how they think The Law should be applied.

R. Haim Meir Drukman Perhaps there is something in the name Meir -מאור in Hebrew, Meir (ma-or) means "light" - like R. Lau is a Jew who might be called "modern Orthodox." Certainly he, like R. Lau, believes that "a Jew is a Jew" even if a converted Jew fails to keep all possible mitzvot. (I challenge anyone, even the most makped haredi - and that probably is redundant - to name any Jew alive in 2013/5773 who follows all the mitzvot he - or she - is obliged to follow.)

R. Drukman lives as a modern man in Israel. He ran, to the haredi establishment's displeasure, conversion programs for new immigrants and, in particular, for members of the IDF. In 1964 he founded the Ohr Etzion B'nei Akiva Yeshiva High school, where he remains Rosh Yeshiva. In 1977 he established the Ohr Etzion Yeshiva, which for many years was the largest Hesder Yeshiva in the country, and in 1995 founded the Ohr MeOfir academy for high school graduates of the Ethiopian community. Since 1996 he has also been the head of the Center for Bnei Akiva Yeshivot and ulpanot in Israel.

For those not familiar with the hesder yeshiva movement, the yeshiva students join the IDF and combine both military service and talmud study.

To me, what the haridim call "Judaism" is exclusionary and, in many respects, gives Israel's enemies justification for what they do - specifically refusing to sell property to a Jew; the good rabbis of the haredi sector ruled that Jews could not sell land to an Arab. Of course many of these same Jews don't recognize Israel as a modern state.

Judaism needs more leaders of the caliber of rabbis Lau and Drukman. Imagine, with leaders such as those two, maybe even Sefardim/Mizrahim could find common ground with their Ashkenazi cousins. (Of course the Ashkenazim would have to allow kitniyot during Pesach, but … )

* Shlomo is my sister-in-law's husband, but defining him that way is awkward.