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Prague · 28 Cheshvan 5787

Shabbat this week · 16:02–17:11

Community

Ashkenazim

אַשְׁכְּנַזִּים
Awaiting expert review

Jews of Central and Eastern European origin; their tradition also shaped Jewish life in the Czech lands.

01

Overview

The name comes from the medieval Hebrew term for the Rhineland region (Ashkenaz). From the German lands the communities spread into Central and Eastern Europe, including Bohemia, Moravia, Poland and Lithuania.

Liturgically they follow nusach Ashkenaz (in Hasidic communities often nusach Sefard); in halakhah, alongside the Shulchan Arukh, they follow the glosses of Moses Isserles (the Rema). The traditional everyday language was Yiddish.

Sources