Sephardic law and customs are the law and customs of
Judaism which are practiced by Sephardim or
Sephardic Jews (
lit. "Jews of Spain"); the descendants of the historic Jewish community of the Iberian Peninsula, what is now
Spain and
Portugal. Many definitions of "Sephardic" also include
Mizrahi Jews, most of whom follow the same traditions of worship as those which are followed by Sephardic Jews. The Sephardi Rite is not a denomination nor is it a movement like
Orthodox Judaism,
Reform Judaism, and other
Ashkenazi Rite worship traditions. Thus, Sephardim comprise a community with distinct cultural, juridical and philosophical traditions.[1]
Sephardim are, primarily, the descendants of Jews from the
Iberian Peninsula. They may be divided into the families that left Spain during the
Expulsion of 1492 and those families that remained in Spain as
crypto-Jews, fleeing in the following few centuries. In religious parlance as well as in modern
Israel, the term is broadly used in reference to all Jews who have
Ottoman or other
Asian or
North African backgrounds, whether or not they have any historic link to Spain, but some prefer to distinguish Sephardim proper from
Mizraḥi Jews.[2]
For the purposes of this article, there is no need to distinguish Iberian Sephardi and
Mizrahi Jews, as their religious practices are basically similar: whether or not they are "Spaniard Jews" they are all "Jews of the Spanish rite". There are three reasons for this convergence, which are explored in more detail below:
Both groups follow general
Jewish law, without those customs specific to the
Ashkenazic tradition.
The Spanish rite was an offshoot of the Babylonian-Arabic family of Jewish rites and retained a family resemblance to the other rites of that family.
Following the expulsion the Spanish exiles took a leading role in the Jewish communities of Western Asia (the Middle East) and North Africa, who modified their rites to bring them still nearer to the Spanish rite, which by then was regarded as the standard.
Jewish law is based on the
Torah, as interpreted and supplemented by the
Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud in its final form dates from the
Sassanian period and was the product of a number of
colleges in Babylonia.
The Gaonic period
The two principal colleges,
Sura and
Pumbedita, survived well into the Islamic period. Their presidents, known as
Geonim, together with the
Exilarch, were recognised by the
AbbasidCaliphs as the supreme authority over the Jews of the Arab world. The Gaonim provided written answers to questions on Jewish law from around the world, which were published in collections of
responsa and enjoyed high authority. The Gaonim also produced handbooks such as the Halachot Pesuqot by
Yehudai Gaon and the Halachot Gedolot by
Simeon Kayyara.
Spain
The learning of the Gaonim was transmitted through the scholars of
Kairouan, notably
Chananel Ben Chushiel and
Nissim Gaon, to
Spain, where it was used by
Isaac Alfasi in his Sefer ha-Halachot (code of Jewish law), which took the form of an edited and abridged Talmud. This in turn formed the basis for the
Mishneh Torah of
Maimonides. A feature of these early Tunisian and Spanish schools was a willingness to make use of the
Jerusalem Talmud as well as the Babylonian.
Developments in France and Germany were somewhat different. They too respected the rulings of the
Gaonim, but also had strong local customs of their own. The
Tosafists did their best to explain the Talmud in a way consistent with these customs. A theory grew up that custom trumps law (see
Minhag): this had some Talmudic support, but was not nearly so prominent in Arabic countries as it was in Europe. Special books on Ashkenazic custom were written, for example by
Yaakov Moelin. Further instances of Ashkenazic custom were contributed by the penitential manual of
Eleazar of Worms and some additional stringencies on
sheḥitah (the slaughter of animals) formulated in
Jacob Weil's Sefer Sheḥitot u-Bediqot.
The learning of the Tosafists, but not the literature on Ashkenazic customs as such, was imported into Spain by
Asher ben Yeḥiel, a German-born scholar who became chief rabbi of
Toledo and the author of the Hilchot ha-Rosh - an elaborate Talmudic commentary, which became the third of the great Spanish authorities after Alfasi and Maimonides. A more popular résumé, known as the
Arba'ah Turim, was written by his son,
Jacob ben Asher, though he did not agree with his father on all points.
The Tosafot were also used by the scholars of the Catalan school, such as
Nahmanides and
Solomon ben Adret, who were also noted for their interest in
Kabbalah. For a while, Spain was divided between the schools: in Catalonia the rulings of Nahmanides and ben Adret were accepted, in Castile those of the Asher family and in Valencia those of Maimonides. (Maimonides' rulings were also accepted in most of the Arab world, especially
Yemen,
Egypt and the
Land of Israel.)
After the expulsion
Following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Jewish law was codified by
Joseph Caro in his Bet Yosef, which took the form of a commentary on the Arba'ah Turim, and
Shulḥan Aruch, which presented the same results in the form of a practical abridgement. He consulted most of the authorities available to him, but generally arrived at a practical decision by following the majority among the three great Spanish authorities, Alfasi, Maimonides and Asher ben Yeḥiel, unless most of the other authorities were against them. He did not consciously intend to exclude non-Sephardi authorities, but considered that the Ashkenazi school, so far as it had anything to contribute on general Jewish law as opposed to purely Ashkenazi custom, was adequately represented by Asher. However, since Alfasi and Maimonides generally agree, the overall result was overwhelmingly Sephardi in flavour, though in a number of cases Caro set the result of this consensus aside and ruled in favour of the Catalan school (
Nahmanides and
Solomon ben Adret), some of whose opinions had Ashkenazi origins. The Bet Yosef is today accepted by Sephardim as the leading authority in Jewish law, subject to minor variants drawn from the rulings of later rabbis accepted in particular communities.
The Polish rabbi
Moses Isserles, while acknowledging the merits of the Shulḥan Aruch, felt that it did not do justice to Ashkenazi scholarship and practice. He accordingly composed a series of glosses setting out all respects in which Ashkenazi practice differs, and the composite work is today accepted as the leading work on Ashkenazi halachah. Isserles felt free to differ from Caro on particular points of law, but in principle he accepted Caro's view that the Sephardic practice set out in the Shulḥan Aruch represents standard Jewish law while the Ashkenazi practice is essentially a local custom.
So far, then, it is meaningless to speak of "Sephardic custom": all that is meant is Jewish law without the particular customs of the Ashkenazim. For this reason, the law accepted by other non-Ashkenazi communities, such as the
Italian and
Yemenite Jews, is basically similar to that of the Sephardim. There are of course customs peculiar to particular countries or communities within the Sephardic world, such as
Syria and
Morocco.
An important body of customs grew up in the
Kabbalistic circle of
Isaac Luria and his followers in
Safed, and many of these have spread to communities throughout the Sephardi world: this is discussed further in the
Liturgy section below. In some cases they are accepted by Greek and Turkish Sephardim and
Mizrahi Jews but not by Western communities such as the
Spanish and Portuguese Jews. These are customs in the true sense: in
the list of usages below they are distinguished by an L sign.
Liturgy
Origins
For the outline and early history of the Jewish liturgy, see the articles on
Siddur and
Jewish services. At an early stage, a distinction was established between the Babylonian ritual and
that used in Palestine, as these were the two main centres of religious authority: there is no complete text of the Palestinian rite, though some fragments have been found in the
Cairo Genizah.[3]
Most scholars maintain that
Sephardic Jews are inheritors of the religious traditions of the great
Babylonian Jewish academies, and that
Ashkenazi Jews are descendants of those who originally followed the Judaean or Galilaean Jewish religious traditions.[4][5] Others, such as
Moses Gaster, maintain precisely the opposite.[6] 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.[7] (In
the list of usages below, Sephardic usages inherited from Palestine are marked P, and instances where the Sephardic usage conforms to the Babylonian while the Ashkenazic usage is Palestinian are marked B.) By the 12th century, as a result of the efforts of Babylonian leaders such as
Yehudai Gaon and
Pirqoi ben Baboi,[8] the communities of Palestine, and Diaspora communities such as
Kairouan which had historically followed Palestinian usages, had adopted Babylonian rulings in most respects, and Babylonian authority was accepted by Jews throughout the Arabic-speaking world.
Early attempts at standardizing the liturgy which have been preserved include, in chronological order, those of
Amram Gaon,
Saadia Gaon, Shelomoh ben Natan of
Sijilmasa (in Morocco)[9] and
Maimonides. All of these were based on the legal rulings of the
Geonim but show a recognisable evolution towards the current Sephardi text. The liturgy in use in
Visigothic Spain is likely to have belonged to a Palestinian-influenced European family, together with the
Italian and
Provençal, and more remotely the
Old French and Ashkenazi rites, but as no liturgical materials from the Visigothic era survive we cannot know for certain. From references in later treatises such as the Sefer ha-Manhig by Rabbi
Abraham ben Nathan ha-Yarḥi (c. 1204), it appears that even at that later time the Spanish rite preserved certain European peculiarities that have since been eliminated in order to conform to the rulings of the Geonim and the official texts based on them. (Conversely the surviving versions of those texts, in particular that of Amram Gaon, appear to have been edited to reflect some Spanish and other local usages.)[10] The present Sephardic liturgy should therefore be regarded as the product of gradual convergence between the original local rite and the North African branch of the Babylonian-Arabic family, as prevailing in Geonic times in Egypt and Morocco. Following the
Reconquista, the specifically Spanish liturgy was commented on by
David Abudirham (c. 1340), who was concerned to ensure conformity with the rulings of
halachah, as understood by the authorities up to and including Asher ben Yehiel. Despite this convergence, there were distinctions between the liturgies of different parts of the Iberian peninsula: for example the Lisbon and Catalan rites were somewhat different from the Castilian rite, which formed the basis of the later Sephardic tradition. The Catalan rite was intermediate in character between the Castilian rite and that of
Provence: Haham
Gaster classified the rites of
Oran and
Tunis in this group.[11]
Post-expulsion
After the expulsion from Spain, the Sephardim took their liturgy with them to countries throughout the Arab and
Ottoman world, where they soon assumed positions of rabbinic and communal leadership. They formed their own communities, often maintaining differences based on their places of origin in the Iberian peninsula. In
Salonica, for instance, there were more than twenty synagogues, each using the rite of a different locality in Spain or Portugal (as well as one
Romaniot and one
Ashkenazi synagogue).[12]
In a process lasting from the 16th through the 19th century, the native Jewish communities of most Arab and Ottoman countries adapted their pre-existing liturgies, many of which already had a family resemblance with the Sephardic, to follow the Spanish rite in as many respects as possible. Some reasons for this are:
The Spanish exiles were regarded as an elite and supplied many of the Chief Rabbis to the countries in which they settled, so that the Spanish rite tended to be favoured over any previous native rite;
The invention of printing meant that
Siddurim were printed in bulk, usually in Italy, so that a congregation wanting books generally had to opt for a standard "Sephardi" or "Ashkenazi" text: this led to the obsolescence of many historic local rites, such as the Provençal rite;
R. Joseph Caro's
Shulḥan Aruch presupposes a "Castilian rite" at every point, so that that version of the Spanish rite had the prestige of being "according to the opinion of Maran";
The
Hakham Bashi of
Constantinople was the constitutional head of all the Jews of the
Ottoman Empire, further encouraging uniformity. The North Africans in particular were influenced by Greek and Turkish models of Jewish practice and cultural behaviour: for this reason many of them to this day pray according to a rite known as "minhag Ḥida" (the custom of
Chaim Joseph David Azulai).
The most important theological, as opposed to practical, motive for harmonization was the
Kabbalistic teachings of
Isaac Luria and
Ḥayim Vital. Luria himself always maintained that it was the duty of every Jew to abide by his ancestral tradition, so that his prayers should reach the gate in Heaven appropriate to his tribal identity.[13] However he devised a system of usages for his own followers, which were recorded by Vital in his Sha'ar ha-Kavvanot in the form of comments on the Venice edition of the Spanish and Portuguese prayer book.[14] The theory then grew up that this composite Sephardic rite was of special spiritual potency and reached a "thirteenth gate" in Heaven for those who did not know their tribe: prayer in this form could therefore be offered in complete confidence by everyone.
Further Kabbalistic embellishments were recorded in later rabbinic works such as the 18th century Ḥemdat Yamim (anonymous, but sometimes attributed to
Nathan of Gaza). The most elaborate version of these is contained in the
Siddur published by the 18th century
Yemenite Kabbalist
Shalom Sharabi for the use of the
Bet El yeshivah in Jerusalem: this contains only a few lines of text on each page, the rest being filled with intricate meditations on the letter combinations in the prayers. Other scholars commented on the liturgy from both a
halachic and a
kabbalistic perspective, including
Ḥayim Azulai and
Ḥayim Palaggi.
The influence of the Lurianic-
Sephardic rite extended even to countries outside the Ottoman sphere of influence such as
Iran (Persia). (The previous Iranian rite was based on the
Siddur of Saadia Gaon.[15]) The main exceptions to this tendency were:
Yemen, where a conservative group called "Baladi" maintained
their ancestral tradition based on the works of
Maimonides (and therefore do not regard themselves as Sephardi at all), and
the
Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Western countries, who adopted a certain number of Kabbalistic usages piecemeal in the 17th century but later abandoned many of them because it was felt that the Lurianic Kabbalah had contributed to the
Shabbetai Tzevi disaster.[citation needed]
Some Moroccan communities did not accept certain Kabbalistic practices because they said that they had old traditions that they did not need to change.
There were also Kabbalistic groups in the Ashkenazic world, which adopted the Lurianic-Sephardic ritual, on the theory of the thirteenth gate mentioned above. This accounts for the "
Nusach Sefard" and "
Nusach Ari" in use among the
Hasidim, which is based on the Lurianic-Sephardic text with some Ashkenazi variations.
19th century
From the 1840s on a series of prayer-books was published in
Livorno, including Tefillat ha-Ḥodesh, Bet Obed and Zechor le-Abraham. These included notes on practice and the Kabbalistic additions to the prayers, but not the meditations of
Shalom Sharabi, as the books were designed for public congregational use. They quickly became standard in almost all Sephardic and Oriental communities, with any local variations being preserved only by oral tradition. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many more Sephardic prayer books were published in
Vienna. These were primarily aimed at the Judaeo-Spanish communities of the Balkans, Greece and Turkey, and therefore had rubrics in
Ladino, but also had a wider distribution.
An important influence on Sephardic prayer and custom was the late 19th century Baghdadi rabbi known as the
Ben Ish Ḥai, whose work of that name contained both halachic rulings and observations on Kabbalistic custom based on his correspondence with Eliyahu Mani of the
Bet El yeshivah. These rulings and observations form the basis of the Baghdadi rite: both the text of the prayers and the accompanying usages differ in some respects from those of the Livorno editions. The rulings of the Ben Ish Ḥai have been accepted in several other Sephardic and Oriental communities, such as that of
Jerba.
Present day
In the Sephardic world today, particularly in Israel, there are many popular prayer-books containing this Baghdadi rite, and this is what is currently known as Minhag Edot ha-Mizraḥ (the custom of the Oriental congregations). Other authorities, especially older rabbis from North Africa, reject these in favour of a more conservative Oriental-Sephardic text as found in the 19th century Livorno editions; and the
Shami Yemenite and
Syrian rites belong to this group. Others again, following R.
Ovadia Yosef, prefer a form shorn of some of the Kabbalistic additions and nearer to what would have been known to R. Joseph Caro, and seek to establish this as the standard "Israeli Sephardi" rite for use by all communities.[16] The liturgy of the
Spanish and Portuguese Jews differs from all these (more than the Eastern groups differ from each other), as it represents an older form of the text, has far fewer Kabbalistic additions and reflects some
Italian influence. The differences between all these groups, however, exist at the level of detailed wording, for example the insertion or omission of a few extra passages: structurally, all Sephardic rites are very similar.
Instances of Sephardic usage
Code
Description
L
Sephardic usage derived from Lurianic Kabbalah (some of these are accepted by Greek and Turkish Sephardim and
Mizrahi Jews but not by Western communities such as the
Spanish and Portuguese Jews)
Most Sephardi groups do not put on
tefillin during Ḥol ha-Mo`ed (the middle days of festivals). L
They say only one blessing to cover the
tefillin of the arm and the head, rather than one for each. However they say the second blessing if they are interrupted and have to say something after placing the arm tefillin.
Sephardim wind the
tefillin strap anti-clockwise (for a right-handed person). The form of the knot and of the wrappings round the hand are also different from that of the Ashkenazim.
The letter shin on the head tefillin has a different calligraphy than on the Ashkenazi tefillin.
The script used in Torah scrolls, tefillin and mezuzot is different from the Ashkenazic and nearer to the printed square characters.[17]
Tzitzit
It's not a Sephardi practice to let the
tzitziyot of the tzitzit katan hang out.
In the
tzitzit, each winding loops through the preceding one, and the pattern of windings between the knots is either 10-5-6-5 (in some communities, L) or 7-8-11-13 (in others, per
Shulḥan `Arukh).[18]
In many of the prayers, Sephardim preserve
Mishnaic patterns of vocalization and have mostly not altered them to conform with the rules of
Biblical Hebrew: examples are "Naqdishakh" (not "Naqdishkha") and "ha-Gefen" (not "ha-Gafen").[19]
Sephardim read/chant most of the prayers end to end out loud, unlike the Ashkenazi practice that the Hazan reads the first line out loud, followed by
silent reading, and finishing up by reading the last few lines out loud before moving to the next prayer.
Sephardim start Mincha with
Patach Eliyahu, Leshem Yihud, Ma Yedidot,L Korban HaTamid, and Parashat HaKtoret before Ashrei. While
Patach Eliyahu is sometimes omitted, the other prayers are standard practice by most Sephardim.
Friday evening, most Sephardi groups (but not the Spanish and Portuguese) sing the
Shir hashirim between Minha and Kabbalat Shabbat. L
The order of the prayers in the
Zemirot differs from the Ashkenazi practice and has some additional prayers included.
Close to the end of the
Zemirot, the Sephardi Hazan doesn't sing Shoken ad. Instead, Shavat aniyim is sang. It has many melodies that vary by the
Weekly Maqam in the Eastern communities.
Before the `Amida they don't say Tzur Yisrael.
The second blessing before the
Shema begins "Ahavat `Olam" (and not "Ahavah Rabbah") in all services.
Many Sephardim don't take 3 steps back and 3 steps forward before the
`Amida nor bend their knees.
In the summer months they use the words Morid ha-Ṭal in the second blessing of the `
`Amida. P
The Qedushah of the morning service begins "Naqdishakh ve-Na`ariṣakh", and the Qedushah of
musaf (the additional service for
Shabbat and festivals) begins "Keter Yitenu L'kha".
There are separate summer and winter forms for the "Birkat ha-Shanim".
In most communities, Kohanim say the
Birkat ha-Kohanim every day during Shaharit and Musaf even outside of Israel, unlike the Ashkenazi practice to say it only on the major Festivals. However, in Spanish and Portuguese communities, it is recited only on festivals like Ashkenazim, and in some communities, it is done on Shabbat but not during the week.
The last blessing of the
`Amidah is "Sim Shalom" (and not "Shalom Rav") in all services.
In most communities (except for Spanish and Portuguese) since the times of the Ari, the short Tahanun includes the Vidui, the Thirteen Attributes, and Psalm 25, among others.L The order of the long Tahanun varies based on the particular rite and includes 3 additional Thirteen Attributes. Most communities stand for the beginning of
Tahanun (including the Vidui, the Thirteen Attributes) and sit erect (without resting their head on their arm) for Psalm 25, but customs vary between communities.
When taking out the Torah on shabbat, most Sephardic communities recite Ata horeta ladaat.
Some of the haftara readings are different than the Ashkenazi practice.
Close to the end of the Musaf service, Sephardim read Kol Yisrael before Ein Keloheinu.
The Hazan calls Barechu before the `Aleinu.
After Aleinu, some Sephardim say Uvtorateha Hashem Elokeinu katuv leimor Shema` ...
Most Sephardim sit for
Kaddish unless they were standing previously.
The
Kaddish is longer and the congregation responds Amen after Berich hu.
Adon Olam has an extra stanza (and is longer still in Oriental communities[20]).
Shalom Aleichem has an extra stanza.
The verses recited at the beginning of
Havdala are different from the Ashkenazi practice.
The blessing before
Hallel concludes with לגמור את ההלל, rather than לקרא את ההלל.
Torah scroll
In many communities (mostly
Mizrahi rather than Sephardi proper) the Torah scroll is kept in a tiq (wooden or metal case) instead of a velvet mantle.
They lift the Torah scroll and display it to the congregation before the Torah reading rather than after.[21]B
Synagogue
Typically, the Torah reading platform, which Sephardim generally call
Teva/Teba, is traditionally not in the front of the sanctuary but in the center or back of it.
In Middle Eastern communities, the Torah is read on a horizontal box also called the Teva/Teba rather than a slanted table as the Ashkenazic or Western Sephardic tradition.
The ark where the Torah scrolls are stored is called Hekhal (also Hekhal kodesh in the Greek and Turkish communities), rather than Aron kodesh.
Torah service
The blessing after the `Aliya may include Torato before Torat emet.
After an
`Aliya, the `oleh is congratulated by other congregants with Hazak uvaruch rather than Yasher koach and the ole responds with Hazak ve'ematz.
Most Sephardim remain seated when the 10 Commandments are being read. However Western Sephardim (UK and the Netherlands) stand, similar to Ashkenazim.
While Mizrachi Jews generally eat rice on Passover, many Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Turkish, and North African Sephardim do not.
Most Sephardim regard it as permissible to eat fresh
Kitniyot (
legumes and seeds such as green beans and fresh peas or maize) on Passover.
The custom of eating dried legumes on Passover varies between communities, it is independent of the custom of eating rice.
Some Greek and Turkish Sephardim have the custom to also avoid potatoes on Passover.
Many Sephardim avoid eating fish with milk, as in Eastern Mediterranean countries this is widely considered to be unhealthy (by non-Jews as well as Jews). Ashkenazim and Western Sephardim argue that this practice originated from a mistake in the Bet Yosef, and that the prohibition really concerned the eating of fish with meat.[22]
The laws of
sheḥitah are in some respects stricter and in other respects less strict than those of Ashkenazim (modern
kashrut authorities try to ensure that all meat complies with both standards).
The Sephardi definition of bread is significantly stricter than the Ashkenazi one. Many
challot consumed by Ashkenazim on Shabbat contain too much egg, sugar, raisin, even chocolate to Sephardi standards and are considered cake (uga, עוגה) rather than bread (lechem, לחם). Therefore the hamotzi lechem (המוציא לחם) blessing cannot be said over it and in turn the kiddush is not valid. Ashkenazi hosts are encouraged to be sensitive to this difference when having Sephardi guests over.
Seliḥot are said throughout the month of Elul in the morning rather than at night.
Around
Rosh Hashanah, the typical new year greeting is "Tizku leshanim rabot" (תזכו לשנים רבות). The answer is "Ne`imot vetovot" (נעימות וטובות).
Sephardic
Rishonim (medieval scholars) reject the customs of
Tashlikh and
Kapparot, though they were re-introduced by the
Lurianic school. Spanish and Portuguese Jews still do not observe them.
Only one set of
Hanukkah lights is lit in each household.
The shammash is generally lit after the other
Hanukkah lights and after singing Hannerot hallalu, instead of being used to light them (which would be impractical, given that the lights are traditionally oil lamps rather than candles).
During the
Counting of the `Omer period, observant Sephardi men avoid cutting their hair and shaving/cutting their beard for 34 days, rather than 33, as the Ashkenazi practice.
Life cycle
Birth and naming
The naming ceremony of a girl is called Zebed habbat/Zeved habbat in Hebrew and las Fadas in
Spanish and
Judeospanyol. In some communities (e.g., Hamburg) it happens on the 30th day after birth. The core elements are
Shir hashirim 2:14 (and for a first-born girl, 6:9) and a Mi shebberakh referring to the matriarchs for the naming of the girl. Each community has various additional elements to the ceremony.
Marriage
The bride does not traditionally circle the groom.
Bereavement
The Sephardi term of commemorating a close relative's death is nahala (נחלה) or meldado. Ashkenazim use the Yiddish term
Yahrzeit instead.
The common Sephardi greeting to express a condolence is Min hashamayim tenuhamu (מן השמים תנוחמו).
If a relative passed away in the month of Adar, in a leap year, most Sephardim commemorate it in Adar II rather than the Ashkenazi practice of Adar I or both.
The Sephardi memorial prayers (Hashkabot) serve a similar role to the Ashkenazi
Yizkor.
Given names
Sephardim often name their children after living grandparents, which is a great respect. On the other hand, Ashkenazim never name their children after a living person.
Dobrinsky, Herbert C., A treasury of Sephardic laws and customs : the ritual practices of Syrian, Moroccan, Judeo-Spanish and Spanish and Portuguese Jews of North America. Revised ed. Hoboken, N.J.: KTAV; New York, N.Y.: Yeshiva Univ. Press, 1988.
ISBN0-88125-031-7
Goldschmidt, Meḥqare Tefillah u-Fiyyut (On Jewish Liturgy): Jerusalem 1978
Lavie, Smadar. Wrapped in the Flag of Israel: Mizrahi Single Mothers and Bureaucratic Torture. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018.[23]ISBN978-1-4962-0554-4
Tabori, Yosef, "The influence of the expulsion from Spain on prayer rites" (Hebrew)
in the Rambi catalog.
Wieder, Naphtali, The Formation of Jewish Liturgy: In the East and the West
Zimmels, Ashkenazim and Sephardim: their Relations, Differences, and Problems As Reflected in the Rabbinical Responsa : London 1958 (since reprinted).
ISBN0-88125-491-6
^Ezra Fleischer, Eretz-Yisrael Prayer and Prayer Rituals as Portrayed in the Geniza Documents (Hebrew), Jerusalem 1988. There is an attempted reconstruction of the Eretz Yisrael rite by
David Bar-Hayim of the Machon Shilo.
^Leopold Zunz, Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden, historisch entwickelt, Frankfurt am Main 1892
^Moses Gaster, preface to the Book of Prayer of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation, London, 1901: reprinted in 1965 and subsequent editions.
^See Iggeret Pirkoi ben Bavoi,
Ginzberg, Geonica pp. 48-53; idem, Ginze Schechter, pp. 544-573; Lewin, Tarbiẕ vol. 2 pp. 383-405; Mann, R.E.J. vol. 20 pp. 113-148. It is reprinted in Toratan shel Geonim.
^S. Zucker and E. Wust, "The oriental origin of 'Siddur R. Shlomo b. R. Natan' and its erroneous ascription to North Africa" Kiryat Sefer 64 (1992-3) pp 737-46, argue that this prayer book in fact originated in western Iran. This theory is rejected by S. Reif, Problems with Prayers p. 348. See also U. Ehrlich, "The Contribution of Genizah Texts to the Study of Siddur Rabbi Solomon ben Nathan", in B. Outhwaite and S. Bhayro (eds) From a Sacred Source: Genizah Studies in Honour of Professor Stefan C. Reif (Leiden 2011) pp 134-5.
^Preface to the Book of Prayer of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation, London, above.
^Michael Molho, Usos y costumbres de los judíos de Salonica.
^"There are many differences between the [various] prayer books, between the Sefardi rite, the Catalonian rite, the Ashkenazi rite, and the like. Concerning this matter, my master [the
Ari] of blessed memory told me that there are twelve windows in heaven corresponding to the twelve tribes, and that the prayer of each tribe ascends through its own special gate. This is the secret of the twelve gates mentioned at the end of [the book of]
Yechezkel. There is no question that were the prayers of all the tribes the same, there would be no need for twelve windows and gates, each gate having a path of its own. Rather, without a doubt it necessarily follows that because their prayers are different, each and every tribe requires its own gate. For in accordance with the source and root of the souls of that tribe, so must be its prayer rite. It is therefore fitting that each and every individual should maintain the customary liturgical rite of his forefathers. For you do not know who is from this tribe and who from that tribe. And since his forefathers practiced a certain custom, perhaps he is from that tribe for whom this custom is appropriate, and if he comes now and changes it, his prayer may not ascend [to heaven], when it is not offered in accordance with that rite. (Sha'ar ha-Kavvanot, 'Inyan Nusach ha-Tefillah)" Navon, Chaim (Rav); Strauss, translated by David.
"The various rites of Jewish liturgy". The Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash. Yeshivat Har Etzion. Archived from
the original on 2 August 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
^Many of the usages attributed to Isaac Luria were not his inventions, but older minority views on Jewish practice, which he revived and justified on Kabbalistic grounds. Some were adopted from the Ḥaside Ashkenaz or the Ashkenazi rite.
^The diagnostic usage of the Yosef group is the saying of the blessing over the Shabbat candles before instead of after lighting them, in accordance with the
Shulchan Aruch; see
Azuz, "Kabbala and Halacha".
^This script is called "Velsh" or "Veilish", and comes from Italy. The name is the Yiddish equivalent of German wälsch meaning "foreign" (or more specifically "Romance" or "Italian", cf. ancient Germanic
Walhaz and the use of Hebrew "lo'ez"). For some reason the
Shulḥan `Arukh sets out the traditional Ashkenazic script instead. A third script, associated with
Isaac Luria, is used by Hasidim.
^See Yitzhak, Hertzel Hillel, Tzel HeHarim: Tzitzit: New York, Feldheim Publishers 2006
ISBN1-58330-292-1.
^This was also the case in Ashkenazi communities until the
Renaissance, when scholars such as Shabbetai Sofer published prayer books with the text deliberately altered to meet the standard of Biblical Hebrew as set by the
Masoretes.
^Except in those communities where (for Kabbalistic reasons) it is not used at all.
^Some Mizraḥi communities do not lift it at all, as the tiq is held open while scroll is carried to and from the Hekhal (or 'Aron').