dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (03/04/84)
There's a further twist to the point Andy raises about
Ashkenaz and Sephardic "nusach".
Generally, Ashkenazim lived in Eastern Europe and Sephardim lived
in Arab lands (Morocco, Yemen, etc.). The word "Sefarad" in Hebrew
means Spain; in fact, the Sephardic community throughout the
world originated from the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.
The pronunciation differences referred to follow a general split:
subject to regional differences (most notably in the vowel shifts,
as has been pointed out), Ashkenazim generally pronounce Hebrew in
one way (e.g., SHAbbos), Sephardim another (shaBBAT).
*However*, within the Ashkenazic (Eastern European) community
there are two general streams of praying styles, differing only
in a few of the words used in certain places in the prayers.
These are called "nusach Ashkenaz" and "nusach Sepharad".
The "nusach Sepharad" is so named because it is closer to
the nusach actually used by Sephardim. But the pronunciation
of the language is identical - the Ashkenaz pronunciation.
In Europe, the division was geographical - I'm not sure of
the details, but I believe Polish Jews generally followed
nusach Sepharad, while Hungarian Jews followed nusach Ashkenaz,
just as examples. In North America, any given shul will follow
one or the other, depending on the traditions of its founders.
One simple way to spot the difference is to listen to the Kaddish,
both when recited by the chazan and when recited by mourners.
In nusach Sepharad, there is an extra phrase:
Yisgadal v'yiskadash sh'mey rabo [Omein]
B'olmo di'vro chirusei v'yamlich malchusei
==> V'yatzmach purkanei viykarev m'shichei [Omein]
B'chayechon uv'yomechon....
If you can't make out what the people saying Kaddish are saying,
just count the number of "amen"s between the beginning and the
"Omein, y'hei shmey rabo mevoroch...." which the congregation reply.
If it's one, it's nusach Ashkenaz; two, nusach Sepharad.
Hope this is useful to someone. The different meaning of "Sepharad"
in different contexts was very confusing to me until I figured it out.
Dave Sherman
Toronto
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