#pesach — Public Fediverse posts

Ashkenazi Jews

Author’s Note: This post has mentions of Nazis, the Holocaust, & Nazi Germany. We completely understand if you wish to skip over this post. We’ll catch you in the next one!

Also known as Ashkenazic Jews, Ashkenazis, or Ashkenazim.

This is a form of distinct ethnic subdivision of the Jewish Diaspora. Emerging from the Jewish communities that consolidated during the 10th century in the Rhineland (Western Germany) & northern France. They migrated there from centers such as the Italian peninsula & the Southern Levant. This includes present-day Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, & Jordan.

After numerous massacres of Jews during the Crusades (11th-13th centuries), they began a gradual eastward migration due to mounting restrictions within the Holy Roman Empire & the favorable policies of Casimir the Great & others.

This diaspora ramped up after the persecution during the Black Death of the 14th century. The bulk of the Ashkenazi Jews had migrated to the Kingdom of Poland (which includes modern-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, & parts of Russia). This area became the main center of Ashkenazi Jewry until the Holocaust.

Ashkenazim adapted their traditions, rites, & customs to Europe. They traditionally followed the German rite synagogue ritual & until the Holocaust primarily spoke Yiddish, an offshoot of Middle High German written in a variety of the Hebrew script, with significant Hebrew, Aramaic, & Slavic influences.

The Yiddish language progressively declined in prestige, in favor of national languages & Hebrew, being stigmatized by assimilationists & later also Zionists. Though it was spoken by over 11 million people worldwide before the Holocaust. The Yiddishist movement, which sought to preserve & revive the language, faded through the 20th century. Including Duolingo adding Yiddish as a language.

As a proportion of the world Jewish population, Ashkenazim were estimated to be 3% in the 11th century, rising to 92% in 1930, near the population’s peak. The Ashkenazi population was significantly diminished by the Holocaust carried out by Nazi Germany during WWII, which killed around 6 million Jews. Before WWII, the estimated worldwide Jewish population was 15.3-16.7 million, with 92% being Ashkenazi. As of 2023, the population of Ashkenazim was estimated to be around 10-13 million out of 15.8 million total Jews.

The name Ashkenazi comes from the biblical figure of Ashkenaz. He’s the 1st son of Gomer, grandson of Japhet, great-grandson of Noah, & a Japhetic patriarch in the Table of Nations. The name for Gomer has often been linked to the Cimmerians.

The Biblical Ashkenazis are usually derived from Assyrian Askuza, a people who expelled the Cimmerians from the Armenian area of the Upper Euphrates. The name Askuza is identified with the Scythians.

In Jeremiah 51:27, Ashkenaz figures as 1 of 3 kingdoms in the far north, the others being Minni (or Mannaea), an ancient kingdom that flourished in northwestern Iran, & Arrat (corresponding to Urartu), called on by God to resist Babylon.

Ashkenaz is linked to Scandza/Scanzia (usually identified with Scandinavia), viewed as the cradle of Germanic tribes, in the 6th-century gloss to the Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius. In the 10th century, in the History of Armenia of Yovhannes Drasxanakertci, Ashkenaz was associated with Armenia.

As it was occasionally in Jewish usage, where its denotation extended at times to Adiabene, Khazaria, Chimea, & areas to the east. They’re also identified with the Slavim or Slavs. In keeping with the custom of designating areas of Jewish settlement with biblical names, Spain was called Sefarad (Obadiah 20), France was called Tsarefat (I Kings 17:9), & Bohemia was called the Land of Canaan.

Given the close links between the Jewish communities of France & Germany following the Carolingian unification, the term Ashkenazi came to refer to the Jews of both medieval Germany & France.

In later times, the word Ashkenaz is used to designate southern & western Germany, the ritual of which sections differs somewhat from that of eastern Germany & Poland. Thus, the prayer book of Isaiah Horowitz (a prominent rabbi & mystic), & many others, give the piyyutim (a Jewish liturgical poem), according to the Minhag of Ashkenaz & Poland. A Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism.

In a religious sense, an Ashkenazi Jew is any Jew whose family tradition & synagogue ritual follow Ashkenazi practices (German rite). Until the Ashkenazi community 1st began to develop in the Early Middle Ages, the centers of Jewish religious authority were in the Islamic world, at Baghdad & Islamic Spain. German Ashkenaz was so geographically distant that it developed a minhag of its own.

The counterpart of Ashkenazi is Sephardic. Since most non-Ashkenazi Orthodox Jews follow Sephardic rabbinical authorities, whether or not they’re ethnically Sephardic. By tradition, a Sephardic or Mizrahi (a.k.a. Oriental Jews; Jews who lived in the Muslim world) who married into an Orthodox or Haredi (a.k.a. ultra-Orthodox) Ashkenazi Jewish family raises her kids to be Ashkenazi Jews.

On the other hand, an Ashkenazi woman who married a Sephardi or Mizrahi is expected to take on Sephardic practices & the kids will “inherit” a Sephardic identity. Though in practice, many families do compromise. A “convert” usually follows the practice of the rabbinical court (beth din) that converted them.

Culturally, an Ashkenazi Jew can be identified by the concept of Yiddishkeit, which means “Jewishness” in the Yiddish language. Before the Haskalah (a.k.a. the Jewish Enlightenment) & the emancipation of Jews in Europe, this meant the study of the Torah & the Talmud for men, & communal life governed by the observance of Jewish Law for men & women.

From the Rhineland to Riga (the largest city in Latvia) to Romania, most Jews prayed in liturgical Ashkenazi Hebrew, & spoke Yiddish in their secular (worldly) lives. But with modernization, Yiddishkeit now includes not just Orthodoxy & Hasidism, but a broader range of movements, ideologies, practices, & traditions in which Ashkenazi have participated & somehow kept a sense of Jewishness. Although pockets of Jews still speak Yiddish, Yiddishkeit can be identified in manners of speech, styles of humor, & in patterns of association.

As Ashkenazi Jews moved away from Europe, mostly in the form of aliyah to Israel. Or immigration to North America, South Africa, Europe (particularly France), & Latin America, the geographic isolation has given way to mixing with other cultures, & with non-Ashkenazi Jews who, similarly, are no longer isolated in distinct geographic locales.

Hebrew has replaced Yiddish as the primary Jewish language for many Ashkenazi Jews. Although many Hasidic & Hareidi groups still use Yiddish in daily life. Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographic Land of Israel or the Palestine region, where the State of Israel was established.

France’s blended Jewish community is typical of the cultural recombination that’s going on among Jews throughout the world. Although France expelled its original Jewish population in the Middle Ages, by the time of the French Revolution, there were 2 distinct Jewish populations.

One consisted of Sephardic Jews, originally refugees from the Inquisition (which no one expects! Sorry, we’re Monty Python fans here.) & concentrated in the southwest. While the other community was Ashkenazi, concentrated in formerly German Alsace, & mainly speaking a German dialect similar to Yiddish.

The 3rd community of Provencal Jews living in Comtat Venaissin was technically outside France, & was later absorbed into the Sephardim. Comtat Venaissin (called Comtat, for short) was a part of the Papal States from 1274 to 1791.

But after emancipation, a sense of a unified French Jewry emerged, especially when France was wracked by the Dreyfus Affair in the 1890s. (We’ll be doing a post about the Dreyfus Affair.) In the 1920s & 30s, Ashkenazi Jews from Europe arrived in large numbers as refugees from antisemitism, the Russian Revolution, & the economic turmoil of the Great Depression.

By the 1930s, Paris had a vibrant Yiddish culture, & many Jews were involved in diverse political movements. After the Vichy years & the Holocaust, the French Jewish population was augmented once again, 1st by Ashkenazi refugees from Central Europe, & later by Sephardi immigrants & refugees from North Africa, many of them francophone. Francophone refers to people/organizations who use French (language) regularly.

Ashkenazi Jews didn’t transmit their traditions or achievements by text. Instead, these traditions were passed down orally from one generation to the next. The desire to maintain pre-Holocaust traditions relating to Ashkenazi culture has often been met with criticism by Jews in Eastern Europe.

In an ethnic sense, an Ashkenazi Jew is a descendant of the Jews who settled in the Central European region of “Ashkenaz.” For roughly 1,000 years, the Ashkenazim were a reproductively isolated population in Europe.

Despite living in many countries, with little inflow or outflow of countries from migration, conversion, or intermarriage with other groups, including other Jews. Since the mid-20th century, many Ashkenazi Jews have intermarried, both with members of other Jewish communities & non-Jews.

Religious persecution of the Jews in Western & Central Europe led to a significant migration of the Ashkenazi Jews into Eastern Europe. This resulted in a major cultural divide between Western/Central & Eastern Ashkenazi communities. In particular, this was reflected in the division of Yiddish into Western & Eastern Yiddish dialects. As well as in other cultural distinctions: traditions, food, dress, etc.

Initially, the Jews of Eastern Europe enjoyed relative freedom in terms of movement, being invited by the kings of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Over time, the situation was reversed. By the 19th century, the Jews in the West had gradually been integrated into the general society.

While the Eastern Ashkenazi maintained their strict Jewish traditions & were mostly confined to ghettos, especially in the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire, which incorporated a considerable amount of land where the Eastern Ashkenazi lived: Poland & Lithuania.

Well-known differences in practices include:

• Observance of Passover (Pesach)
  • Ashkenazi Jews traditionally refrain from eating legumes, grain, millet, & rice. Quinoa has become accepted as a food grain in North American communities. Sephardi Jews typically don’t prohibit these foods.
• Notwithstanding stricter requirements for the ACTUAL slaughter, Sephardi Jews permit the rear portions of an animal after proper Halakhic removal of the sciatic nerve. While many Ashkenazi Jews don’t.
• Ashkenazi Jews often name newborns after deceased family members, not after living relatives. Sephardi Jews often name their kids after their grandparents, even if those grandparents are still living. An exception to this is among Dutch Jews, where Ashkenazi for centuries used naming conventions otherwise attributed exclusively to Sephardim, such as Chuts. Chuts is the name given to Jews who immigrated to London from the Netherlands in the 1850s-1860s.
• Ashkenazi tefillins are wound toward the body, not away from it. Ashkenazim put on the tefillin while standing up. Other Jews generally do so while sitting down. A tefillin(s) is/are sets of small black leather boxes with leather straps having scrolls of parchment written with verses of the Torah inside.
• The prayer shawl (tallit/tallis) is worn by all Ashkenazi men AFTER marriage. Except for Western European Ashkenazi men who wear it from the bar mitzvah. In Sephardi or Mizrahi Judaism, the prayer shawl is commonly worn from early childhood.

The term Ashkenazi also refers to the Nusach Ashkenaz, the liturgical tradition used by Ashkenazi Jews in their siddur (prayer book). A nusach is defined by a liturgical tradition’s choice of prayers, the text of prayers & melodies used in the singing of prayers. 2 other major forms of nusach among Ashkenazi Jews are Nusach Sefard (not to be confused with the Sephardic ritual), which is the general Polish Hasidic nusach, and Nusach Ari, used by those in Chabad.

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"It’s the #NineDays of #Av, a time when we mourn the destruction of the #BeitHaMikdash. One of the customs during this time is not to listen to #music. However, many also have to the custom to listen to #singing as long as there are no instruments. Therefore, the two periods in the #Jewish calendar when #acappella takes center stage are #Sefirah (between #Pesach and #LagBOmer) and the #ThreeWeeks. And these are usually the times of the year when Jewish #musicians release a cappella singles.

This year, a few new a cappella #songs have been released. Let’s review some of them."

https://jewishpress.com/the-a-cappella-roundup/

"It’s the #NineDays of #Av, a time when we mourn the destruction of the #BeitHaMikdash. One of the customs during this time is not to listen to #music. However, many also have to the custom to listen to #singing as long as there are no instruments. Therefore, the two periods in the #Jewish calendar when #acappella takes center stage are #Sefirah (between #Pesach and #LagBOmer) and the #ThreeWeeks. And these are usually the times of the year when Jewish #musicians release a cappella singles.

This year, a few new a cappella #songs have been released. Let’s review some of them."

https://jewishpress.com/the-a-cappella-roundup/

"The #festival of #Shavuot is, in many ways, the calm, quiet relation of the #Torah prescribed #festivals.

From a Torah perspective it is simply the date, 50 days after #Pesach on which the first wheat loaves of the new season were brought to the #BeitHamikdash.

Only through a set of calculations, not specifically tied to the festival in the Torah, do we know that it occurs when #Israel experienced the #Sinaiticrevelation.

But as is so often the case in #Judaism, custom stepped in where law left a vacuum. Hence while today its key identifying practice is #Torahstudy – #TikkunLeilShavuot – on the night of Shavuot, Shavuot also has its gastronomic aspect.

Regarding #food, one of the best-known customs of Shavuot is the eating of #dairy foods at the #holiday meals or during the nighttime study sessions. #Cheesecake and cheese #blintzes have become beloved and fattening Shavuot staples in #Jewish homes for centuries. Why?"

https://www.australianjewishnews.com/food-for-torah-thought-on-shavuot/

"The #festival of #Shavuot is, in many ways, the calm, quiet relation of the #Torah prescribed #festivals.

From a Torah perspective it is simply the date, 50 days after #Pesach on which the first wheat loaves of the new season were brought to the #BeitHamikdash.

Only through a set of calculations, not specifically tied to the festival in the Torah, do we know that it occurs when #Israel experienced the #Sinaiticrevelation.

But as is so often the case in #Judaism, custom stepped in where law left a vacuum. Hence while today its key identifying practice is #Torahstudy – #TikkunLeilShavuot – on the night of Shavuot, Shavuot also has its gastronomic aspect.

Regarding #food, one of the best-known customs of Shavuot is the eating of #dairy foods at the #holiday meals or during the nighttime study sessions. #Cheesecake and cheese #blintzes have become beloved and fattening Shavuot staples in #Jewish homes for centuries. Why?"

https://www.australianjewishnews.com/food-for-torah-thought-on-shavuot/

Going to tell kids this was a QR code.

#matzah #Passover #Pesach

Going to tell kids this was a QR code.

#matzah #Passover #Pesach

The best thing about today is the green Manischewitz Fruit Slice I am having. It tastes exquisite. #Pesach #Passover #Mazeldon

The best thing about today is the green Manischewitz Fruit Slice I am having. It tastes exquisite. #Pesach #Passover #Mazeldon

The #art of #passover #pesach https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-delivery-of-israel-out-of-egypt-34518 #victorianart

A #poem at #passover https://kalliope.org/en/text/housman2002020502 #pesach #aehousman #poetry

A song at #passover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7N6oC-qVMk&list=RDg7N6oC-qVMk&start_radio=1&pp=ygURcnVzaCByZWQgc2VjdG9yIGGgBwHSBwkJ2goBhyohjO8%3D #pesach

Is 10pm too late in the day for a Fruit Slice? #Passover #Pesach #FruitSlices #Mazeldon

Is 10pm too late in the day for a Fruit Slice? #Passover #Pesach #FruitSlices #Mazeldon

Ate a cashew butter and strawberry preserves matsa sandwich.

#Pesach #Passover #vegan #vegetarian #plantbased #holidays

Ate a cashew butter and strawberry preserves matsa sandwich.

#Pesach #Passover #vegan #vegetarian #plantbased #holidays

for we were... [enslaved? sojourners?] in Egypt

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/for-we-were-enslaved-sojourners-in-egypt/

White night: Recommended white wines for Passover 2025 https://www.diningandcooking.com/?p=2589467 #IsraeliWine #Mediterranean #MediterraneanWine #Passover #pesach #Wine

White night: Recommended white wines for Passover 2025 https://www.diningandcooking.com/?p=2589467 #IsraeliWine #Mediterranean #MediterraneanWine #Passover #pesach #Wine

Do you keep Passover for 7 or 8 days?

#Pesach #holidays #Jewish #Mazeldon #Passover #AskFedi

Do you keep Passover for 7 or 8 days?

#Pesach #holidays #Jewish #Mazeldon #Passover #AskFedi

Do you eat kitniyot?

#Pesach #Passover #holidays #Jewish #Mazeldon #AskFedi

Do you eat kitniyot?

#Pesach #Passover #holidays #Jewish #Mazeldon #AskFedi

Is there such a thing as too many Fruit Slices? #Passover #Mazeldon #FruitSlices #Pesach

Is there such a thing as too many Fruit Slices? #Passover #Mazeldon #FruitSlices #Pesach

It's day 5 of #Passover and we're nearly out of candy. Our shopping priorities were clearly wrong. #sendHelp #Pesach #Jewstodon #Mazeldon

It's day 5 of #Passover and we're nearly out of candy. Our shopping priorities were clearly wrong. #sendHelp #Pesach #Jewstodon #Mazeldon

Today's brunch was 3 matsot with cashew butter.

#Pesach #Passover #holidays #vegan #plantbased

Today's brunch was 3 matsot with cashew butter.

#Pesach #Passover #holidays #vegan #plantbased

Step Dad sent me a #Passover care package with matsa and grape juice and a few other things! Wished him a happy #Easter!

#Pesach #holidays #Mazeldon #Kindness

my mom really wanted gefilte fish for #passover so we bought some.

Friends, she had approximately 3 pieces, which is fine.

what isn't fine is now I have a nearly full jar of gefilte fish in *my* fridge & she's back home in New England.

anyway -- happy Passover!

#passover #jewish #food #Pesach #GefilteFish

my mom really wanted gefilte fish for #passover so we bought some.

Friends, she had approximately 3 pieces, which is fine.

what isn't fine is now I have a nearly full jar of gefilte fish in *my* fridge & she's back home in New England.

anyway -- happy Passover!

#passover #jewish #food #Pesach #GefilteFish

Child #3, away at college, goes to CVS and buys #chametz. Yesterday. Using my credit card. 🤦 I find this out when I get the email receipt from CVS.
Normally I pay for his food at college.
There's a lot of #halacha I'm not so strict about, but not #Pesach.
"I need you to not be buying chametz with my credit card on Pesach," I tell him. He apologizes.
"I am taking that out of the money I owe you, because I can't be owning chametz on Pesach."
He agrees.
#Jewstodon #Mazeldon

Child #3, away at college, goes to CVS and buys #chametz. Yesterday. Using my credit card. 🤦 I find this out when I get the email receipt from CVS.
Normally I pay for his food at college.
There's a lot of #halacha I'm not so strict about, but not #Pesach.
"I need you to not be buying chametz with my credit card on Pesach," I tell him. He apologizes.
"I am taking that out of the money I owe you, because I can't be owning chametz on Pesach."
He agrees.
#Jewstodon #Mazeldon

1. Stuck to McDougall diet.
2. Had a good dinner and breakfast, despite Passover restrictions.
3. Maintained good sleep hygiene despite my days off.

#3GoodThings #Passover #Pesach #holidays #plantbased #vegan #vegetarian #selfcare

1. Stuck to McDougall diet.
2. Had a good dinner and breakfast, despite Passover restrictions.
3. Maintained good sleep hygiene despite my days off.

#3GoodThings #Passover #Pesach #holidays #plantbased #vegan #vegetarian #selfcare

Passover Art

1) The Seder Visit, Carl Frankel, 2007
2) Passover Seder, Shraga Weil, 1949
3) Marc Chagall, 1931
4) The Seder Table, Lynne Feldman

#passover #seder #passoverart #pesach #judaica #art #artists #carlfrankel #shragaweil #marcchagall #lynnefeldman

Passover Art

1) The Seder Visit, Carl Frankel, 2007
2) Passover Seder, Shraga Weil, 1949
3) Marc Chagall, 1931
4) The Seder Table, Lynne Feldman

#passover #seder #passoverart #pesach #judaica #art #artists #carlfrankel #shragaweil #marcchagall #lynnefeldman

Dinner actually was pretty good.

#dinner #Pesach #Passover #holidays #vegan #vegetarian #plantbased #cooking #food

Dinner actually was pretty good.

#dinner #Pesach #Passover #holidays #vegan #vegetarian #plantbased #cooking #food

Chag sameach everyone! Been running around like a chicken with my head cut off grocery shopping for #Passover so forgot to actually, like, post this.

#pesach #pesakh #פסח

People don't like my kosher, vegan, no kitniyot dishes.

#vegan #kosher #cooking #Pesach #holidays #Passover

People don't like my kosher, vegan, no kitniyot dishes.

#vegan #kosher #cooking #Pesach #holidays #Passover

Sending warm Passover wishes to all who are celebrating 🌿✨

May this season bring renewal and peace 💛🕯️

Chag Pesach Sameach 🫶🌸

#passover #pesach #festivaloffreedom #resilience #jenniesworld

Sending warm Passover wishes to all who are celebrating 🌿✨

May this season bring renewal and peace 💛🕯️

Chag Pesach Sameach 🫶🌸

#passover #pesach #festivaloffreedom #resilience #jenniesworld

Remember: everything's a dildo if you're brave enough. #Pesach #sextoys

First breakfast this Pesah. Tastes good. The dog liked it too.

#Pesach #Passover #vegan #vegetarian #plantbased #breakfast #food

First breakfast this Pesah. Tastes good. The dog liked it too.

#Pesach #Passover #vegan #vegetarian #plantbased #breakfast #food

Made some fresh matzoh for Passover.

It’s really easy and delicious. I should probably make it more than once a year.

#passover #pesach #food

Made some fresh matzoh for Passover.

It’s really easy and delicious. I should probably make it more than once a year.

#passover #pesach #food

Since it's after sundown here, Chag Pesach Sameach to all my Jewish friends on Fedi!

As I did with Hanukkah, I'm trying to reclaim my ethnic (half) Jewishness this year. So, I am having a Sedar meal with my kids tomorrow night. Walked through the questions with my youngest (MDMRN Twin 2). She was disappointed that those are the only questions she gets to ask during the meal, but is ready to go.

Hope you have an amazing evening and season.

#ChagPesachSameach #Passover #Pesach

Since it's after sundown here, Chag Pesach Sameach to all my Jewish friends on Fedi!

As I did with Hanukkah, I'm trying to reclaim my ethnic (half) Jewishness this year. So, I am having a Sedar meal with my kids tomorrow night. Walked through the questions with my youngest (MDMRN Twin 2). She was disappointed that those are the only questions she gets to ask during the meal, but is ready to go.

Hope you have an amazing evening and season.

#ChagPesachSameach #Passover #Pesach

NOW ON VERDANT SQUARE RADIO ==

NOW PLAYING == Six13 - A Billy Joel #Passoverhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1k6HmUY6Zk&list=RDt1k6HmUY6Zk #arts #art #music #passover #gratefuldreadsets #six13 #kyndmix #pesach #GetUpStandUp #resist #vsn #radio #billyjoel #HappyPassover #DiverseSpectrumOfTheLeft #SupportIndependentMedia

https://mastodon.social/@VerdantSquareRadio/116331593917137218

#news #arts #left #commentary #radio #publicradio #community #progressive #green #kyndmix #vsn

NOW ON VERDANT SQUARE RADIO ==

NOW PLAYING == Six13 - A Billy Joel #Passoverhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1k6HmUY6Zk&list=RDt1k6HmUY6Zk #arts #art #music #passover #gratefuldreadsets #six13 #kyndmix #pesach #GetUpStandUp #resist #vsn #radio #billyjoel #HappyPassover #DiverseSpectrumOfTheLeft #SupportIndependentMedia

https://mastodon.social/@VerdantSquareRadio/116331593917137218

#news #arts #left #commentary #radio #publicradio #community #progressive #green #kyndmix #vsn

An Ancient Passover Sacrifice

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.lifeisasacredtext.com/an-ancient-passover-sacrifice/