Israel – Rabbi Avraham Yosef, chief rabbi of the city of Holon, and son of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, stated that any newly religious person must accept Sephardic religious edicts, even if the person is of Ashkenazi descent.
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Asked how Sephardic traditions are applicable for Ashkenazi Jews in the halachic responses section of the Jewish website Moreshet, the rabbi explained that in Israel one must embrace Sephardic traditions, and yet, one mustn’t abandon the tradition of one’s fathers (“and do not forsake the teachings of your mother”).
Therefore, the rabbi ruled that those born to religious parents should follow their traditions, but in cases where there is no religious background – i.e. there is no family tradition in halachic matters, those who have no religious background must accept the Sephardic tradition and edicts.
Like his father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who wishes “to return the (Divine) Crown to its original state” and seeks to entrench the Sephardic tradition in Israel, Rabbi Avraham Yosef also tends to take a firm stand in favor of Sephardic halachic tradition.
Rabbi Yosef Sr. enjoys mocking Ashkenazis in his weekly sermons and criticizes those of Sephardic tradition who prefer to mimic their Ashkenazi brethren.
A few months ago, at the height of the Emmanuel school controversy, he referred to the discrimination that exists within the haredi education system and said: “The Torah does not belong to the Ashkenazis, it belongs to us all!”
He has a point, since Hasidim davven Nusach Sefarad. I read an article written over 150 years ago in an American-Jewish newspaper about Isaac Mayer Wise’s “Minhag America” (the new Reform siddur) which argued that the real “Minhag America” should be Nusach Sefarad.
cool………Sephardic is allowed more than one wife, and can eat grasshoppers, no?
Kal v’chomer this would apply to gerim?
Why are you taking anything away from wothless “Reform”, and the Rasha Wise. The nusach Reform in Amerika is the “nusach” of the angican Church.
Son as father, what a bigot & a racist, if some one wants to be jewish that’s all we gotta care about, let him be whatever he feels spiritually connected, stop ripping apart the jewish community into groups, races, sects, we’re broke as it is, we don’t need an extreme radical leader fueling racial divide
He is terribly lacking in his knowledge of history.
Eretz Yisroel is actually the origins of minhag ashkenaz as the Jews living there were under the Roman Empire and many moved to Rome and from the Italian peninsula spread out to (what is today known as) Germany and France. While Sefardic Jewry originates in what is today referred to as Iraq and Syria, i.e. Bavel from where they went to north Africa, Spain and Asia Minor.
So it would seem that the ancestors of todays Sefardic jews actually left Eretz Yisroel some 500 – 1000 years before the ancestors of their Ashkenazic brethern.
To say that Eretz Yisroel is inherently Sefardic or that falls under Sefardic jurisdiction is ignorant, and shameful.
The Rem’a would be screaming! What kind of business is this?! Eretz Yisroel is not a “Sefardic land”! Even if an Ashkenazi Jew living in Spain itself becomes religious, he shouldn’t become a Sefardi! Just because people have parents that aren’t shomer mitzvos does not mean that he does not have a tradition!
where is the achdus? where is the ahavas yisrael? why the kas?
The Gedolim disagree with this Rabbi.
In fact many gedolei yisroel shlita say that all baalei teshuvos should be Ashkenaz.
to #1 –we should learn from the Reform?
Rav Breuer zt”l said that Minhag Ashkenaz came from Minhag Rome which is from Minhag Eretz Yisroel and is much more al pi kabala (of the the R’ Yehuda Hachasid type).
We have a mesora and people should stick to their mesora. If R’ Yosef has a problem with Ashkenaz he should remember that he (and his brothers) learned in an Ashkenazi yeshiva.
In my humble opinion, such a statement is allowing politics to pentrate into halacha.
Plus Ashkenaz vs. Sefard as the two divisions is an oversimplification – what about yemenite? Isn’t that pretty authentic? Within sefard, should it be Iraqi or Moroccan? This is all kind of trivial and I’m against blanket statements about this stuff…
The halachah is that when we move to a new community we should take on the local minhagim. Regarding Eretz Yisrael, it is quite clear that until a few hundred years ago, all olim from Europe adopted the Mizrachi minhagim (similar to the Sefardi minhagim). Regarding America, there is even less uncertainty — every single community prior to 1795 followed the Western Sefardi minhagim even though there were lots of Ashkenazim here. And for the 50 years after that, every single attempt at forming a synagogue in America with an Ashkenaz nusach ended up with the congregation becoming heterodox. Is it any wonder — they may have been heterodox at the start by not following the established local nusach!
Why would anyone being megayer to yiddeshkeit in EY or making aliyah to EY want to daven in anything other than nusach sefard. Litvahshe minhagim may be appropriate for older European=based kehillahs but the future of EY is Sephardeshe.
why can’t the person choose which derech fits him/her spiritually?
Great conversation!!!
Reminds me that all of us Second Generation yidden born in America, are American. You’re not Ungaresh or Ingeresh, not Poilish, not anything your grandparents were in “der Haym” wherever that was. We are all the same regardless of what kind of hat we wear or if we wear one at all. the excetion would be Kiryas Yoel A Shikun Skver, Kiryas Tosh and the few completely segregated communities that didn’t accept anything other than what they carried over from Europe and enclosed themselves from allowing any outside influences (Minhagim) etc.
#7 –
You are incredibly disrespectful.
Why are all of you giving your opinions here of who is right and who is wrong? You are not poskim, you are not gedolim, your opinion matters zero in regard to this issue.
The old Litvashe and Eastern European minhagim were all “imported” to EY. We have more in common with the mingahim of the arab-based cultures in terms of lvush and even the sounds of our tefilot, than we do with the “avini malini chanini v’annani…etc” sound of a ashkenazic tefilah
Yay! Kitniyos!
His shita is that the Beis Yosef is the mara de’asra of Eretz Yisroel, and that therefore not only should everyone follow sephardic psak and minhagim, but also those sephardim who don’t follow the Beis Yosef (eg. they are more noteh toward the Rambam, Chida, etc.) should follow the Beis Yosef instead.
Re: post #1 –that first part of your statement (“chasidim daven nusach sepharad”) is cute but of course Rav Yosef would hardly agree with that assertion.
Rabbi Avraham Yosef is a very knowledgable person who sometimes says stupid things. This is one of them. Another one was excluding secular judges from counting as a minyan.
To #16 :
#7 DAVEALS may not sound as respectful as you would demand, but he happens to be correct in his assertions. He seems to have a good grasp of history and thus entitled to express his opinions. You, on the other hand, haven’t convinced me that you have that right.
Wrong strategy. I would keep all Balei Teshuvas and Gerim accept Ashkenazi traditions because Ashkenazi minhagim are easier than Sefardi. We don’t want to complicate the lives of newly religious. Ashkenazi prayers are shorter especially on some holdays. Women can wear any kind of wig and not actually cover their hair. You can’t run into Meal Mart and buy Sefardi foods because the wives have to know how to actually cook. etc… Makes life easier.
reply to #25 :
please go read #16 again. It applies to you as well, if not even more so.
BTW, I don’t have to (or care to) convince you of anything. And neither one of you has the “right” to express your opinion if your “opinion” consists of calling a Rav “stupid”
I don’t know who you guys think you are to call gedolim or community rabbeim in any sect stupid. It is not only disrespectful, but incredibly low-class.
Even if you don’t have respect for the person, have respect for the position. You are an arrogant nobody who has no right to call a community rov or higher “stupid”
Oh brother! Is this going to turn into the Jewish version of the Shiites vs. Sunni’s ch’v. BTW, Nusach Sephard and Sephardi customs are a totally different issue.
#17. Your attempt at pronunciation is a Chassidic pronunciation, not an Ashkenazi one.
what the hell?
ashkenazim are not jewish?
To no. 17
Are you suggesting that all chassidim are Ashkenazim or Litvashe and there are no sephardic chaasdim??
I think Sephardim should adopt Hungarian minhogim, Chovevei student should buy pink Shtreimlach, Ovadiah Yosef should vote for Yossi Sarid, Ponovicz should Sing we want moshiach now, Chassidim of Reb Shlomo sould run mishmeres hatznius, Lubavitchers should throw rocks at shabbos drivers in meah she’arim, neturei kartah should scream Kahane Chai, Kach should sing u’bechukoiseihem ein anu….
I think you should close the comment section, it’s a big hillul Hashem to read some of these epikorsim..makes it look like all Jews think the way some of VIN commentators think. Nobody is allowed to discuss, whether they like or not like, what Gedolim say, Sefardi or Ashkenazi alike…it’s not up to you or me. We have our Torah, we have our leaders, let the Gedolim themselves discuss and come to the right conclusions, and we should just be humble enough to follow whether we like it or not. It’s chutzpadic to talk about a talmid chacham, especially a Gadol the way some do. Show Respect. We are not bnei Eisav, we are bnei Yaakov…
Why are all of you giving your opinions here of who is right and who is wrong? You are not poskim, you are not gedolim, your opinion matters zero in regard to this issue.
Reply » hey #16 that also applies to you.if your such a smart arse why do you hide behind anon. i would suggest ashkanazis are wanted for more brain power.
I have a Sefardic cousin who could not get his kids into a “good” yeshiva in Har Nof. He went to a chashuva rov who told him…. become Ashkenaz…which he did and now his kids are in the yeshiva… GEVALD !
Not a bad idea since so many sefardic chozrim BTeshuva decide to play dress up and put on a beketche and shraimel and try so hard to daven with the pronunciation of Galitziah, and usually mess up with bays yisruel and the bext time say Bet Ysrael. Let them dress in the sefardic mesorati garb of a galabiyeh and Fez. Why do they try to mimic ashkenazim? As for teh Ashkenazi Baalei Teshuva, let them be sefardim and let the sefardic Rabbonim deal with all their problems of acclimation and with their children who have not been brought back.
Chabad of course embraces Sfardi Baalei Teshuva and makes them into meshichistim
#33 Cowfy – I am NOT doing the same thing, as I do not pretend I know better than gedolim and poskim.
I did not give my opinion, and, for the record, I don’t believe your real name is “cowfy”. Maybe you took the name because you the saychel of a cow, but I have no idea where the “fy” came from.
I think anyone here who wants to disrespect a rov or a posek or a godol here should first give his credentials that support his ability to do such a thing.
Else, if all you are doing is bad-mouthing the leaders of this generation, then just shut up.
You don’t have to agree with them, you don’t have to follow their psaks, but you do have to show them respect, and opening your fool mouth is not a way to do that, Cow-pee.
It’s funny how no one here picked up on the FACT that nusach sefard is NOT sephardic. Saephardic people daven nusach edot hamizrach, it’s very different then nusach sephard. What usually happens anyway is that regardless of your routes if a sephardic jew is chozer be teshuvah with guidance of an ashkenazi rav or the opposite, they usually go with what that rav teaches them.
to #37
what is funny is that people here discuss this as if anyone cares about their opinion.
This is a NEWS article, not a referendum to vote on. You people are neither qualified nor entitled to vote on this issue, so read the article,m and keep your psaks to yourself.