What is the difference between sephardic and ashkenazi Jews?

Answer 1

Where they're from. Sephardic Jews originate from Spain (called Sepharad in Hebrew) and Ashkenazic Jews originate from Germany (called Ashkenaz in Hebrew). Over the years these terms have become more generic, and Ashkenazic has come to mean Jews from most countries in Europe, and Sephardic to mean from Spain or any African country.

Answer 2

It is a question of rite, meaning what minor rituals go into belief. For example Ashkenazi Jews will not eat rice on Passover, but Sephardi Jews will. On major theological questions, Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardi Jews come to exactly the same conclusions. From an "ethnic perspective" Ashkenazi Jews generally come from Europe, while Sephardi Jews come from Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East. The Balkans and Italy are mixed between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews.

Answer 3

There are minor differences in pronunciation, in the order of the prayers, in dress and cuisine, and in customs.

However, Ashkenazim and Sephardim have the same Torah, Prophets and Writings, the same 613 commands, the same basic 13 beliefs, and the same Talmud.

DNA studies on Jewish communities from around the world have shown that Ashkenazim and Sephardim are quite closely related to each other and all originated in the Middle East. The early Ashkenazi families were brought to the Frankish empire 1200 years ago by Charlemagne from Italy (Lucca, Bari and Otrento), and from there, they gradually migrated northward; whereas the Sephardim had mostly remained in the Mediterranean area.

In 2000, the analysis of a report by Nicholas Wade "provided genetic witness that Jewish communities have, to a remarkable extent, retained their biological identity separate from their host populations, showing relatively little intermarriage or conversion into Judaism over the centuries. The results accord with Jewish history and tradition and refute theories which would allege that Jewish communities consist mostly of converts."

See: Are the Jews the chosen people of Israel?

Answer 4

the Sephardim lang. was Ladino and the Ashkenazim lang. was "Yiddish"

Answer 5

Ijhivbibubñjohi

Answer 6

There are differences in ancestry, dialect, traditions and religious ritual:

a) Ancestry. Properly speaking, Sephardic Jews are those descended from ancestors who lived in Spain and were expelled in 1492. Ashkenazic Jews are descended from the Jews of northern Europe. There has always been a small flow of people between these two groups.

b) Dialect. Just like English accents and pronunciation vary by region, the Sephardic and Ashkenazic communities pronounce certain Hebrew letters differently. The Hebrew letter that is called Tav in Sephardic Hebrew is called Sav in Ashkenazic Hebrew. As a result, the festival Sephardic Jews call Succot is called Succos by Ashkenazic Jews. There is also a vowel shift in one of the two A vowels, so that, where a Sephardic Jew would say Amen, an Ashkenazic Jew would say Omen.

c) Traditions: For reasons that most Rabbis today say are nonsensical, Ashkenazic Jews banned consumption of legumes and rice during Passover. Sephardic Jews never enacted this ban. The ban is so deeply entrenched that many Ashkenazic Jews who agree that it is nonsense uphold the ban anyway.

d) Liturgy. There are small liturgical differences. Sephardic Jews add a verse to the Kaddish that Ashkenazic Jews omit. Sephardic Jews have different readings from the prophets to accompany certain Torah readings. Sephardic Jews raise the Torah scroll and show it to the congregation before the reading, while Ashkenazic Jews do this after the reading.

None of these differences lead to rejection. Ashkenazic Jews accept the legitimacy of Sephardic Jews and visa versa. In certain communities, there was a class distinction -- People of whichever group was in the local majority tended to look down on immigrants from the other group as strange and a bit ignorant, but they were not off limits. Cities like Venice and Amsterdam had coexisting Sephardic and Ashkenazic communities in the 17th century.

Answer 7

Hebrew accent: Ashkenazi Hebrew uses an s for some of the t sounds in Sephardic Hebrew, and an o vowel for some of the a vowels in Sephardic Hebrew, and Ashkenazi Hebrew frequently accents the first syllable where Sephardic puts the accent on the last syllable. So, the English amen comes ahMAIN in Sephardic and OWmain in Ashkenazic, and SuccOT in Sephardic comes out SUccos in Ashkenazic (the name of the weeklong Fall harvest festival). There are several liturgical differences that a non-Jew would not notice, but the rules concerning kitniot (kitnios), non-bread grains, during Passover are a noticable. Ashkenazic Jews traditionally forbid rice and lentils, while Sephardic Jews eat them. Finally, note that neither group considers the other to be illegitimate or improper in their practices. Both see the differences as merely matters of tradition.