#slavic — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Spirituality & Religious Studies @spiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com@spiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com · 2026-08-01 · 13:16 UTC

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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#10thcentury #11thcentury #13thcentury #14thcentury #1850s #1860s

Site Pouchet du CNRS @[email protected] · 2026-07-29 · 15:14 UTC

📕 « L’armée russe : 1453-2025 »

Francine-Dominique Liechtenhan, historienne au Centre Roland Mousnier (CNRS), nous livre une ambitieuse synthèse historique inédite pour mieux comprendre l’actualité.

-

« À l'heure où la guerre russo-ukrainienne prend un caractère de plus en plus hybride, avec l'emploi de drones et de missiles balistiques associés à des cyberattaques, le monde s'interroge sur la suite de l'invasion russe. Jusqu'où Vladimir Poutine peut-il aller ?

Cette Histoire de l'armée russe, conçue sur la très longue durée, allant du milieu du XVe siècle à nos jours, contribue à y répondre en interrogeant les modalités et la réalité de la puissance russe au fil des siècles.

Un tel ouvrage ne saurait oublier les conditions sociales et économiques des soldats.
Les belligérances des tsars et dirigeants soviétiques se firent au prix de sacrifices humains inouïs, dont l'acmé fut atteint pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, mais aussi grâce à une technologie inventive, adaptée au climat du Nord. De nos jours, le quotidien du soldat de l'armée russe et les taux de mortalité sont plus que jamais sujets à caution. »

Un ouvrage à découvrir aux éditions Perrin (2026) : https://www.lisez.com/livres/larmee-russe-1453-2025/9782262097691

@cnrs @cnrsshs @mate_shs_cnrs @sociology @the_conversation_fr @academia @Xeniax

#research #socialsciences #histoire #histodons #russia #ukraine #war #moscou #kremlin #soldiers #soviet #tsar #slavic #defense #history #crm #liechtenhan

#research #socialsciences #histoire #histodons #russia #ukraine

Site Pouchet du CNRS @[email protected] · 2026-07-29 · 15:14 UTC

📕 « L’armée russe : 1453-2025 »

Francine-Dominique Liechtenhan, historienne au Centre Roland Mousnier (CNRS), nous livre une ambitieuse synthèse historique inédite pour mieux comprendre l’actualité.

-

« À l'heure où la guerre russo-ukrainienne prend un caractère de plus en plus hybride, avec l'emploi de drones et de missiles balistiques associés à des cyberattaques, le monde s'interroge sur la suite de l'invasion russe. Jusqu'où Vladimir Poutine peut-il aller ?

Cette Histoire de l'armée russe, conçue sur la très longue durée, allant du milieu du XVe siècle à nos jours, contribue à y répondre en interrogeant les modalités et la réalité de la puissance russe au fil des siècles.

Un tel ouvrage ne saurait oublier les conditions sociales et économiques des soldats.
Les belligérances des tsars et dirigeants soviétiques se firent au prix de sacrifices humains inouïs, dont l'acmé fut atteint pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, mais aussi grâce à une technologie inventive, adaptée au climat du Nord. De nos jours, le quotidien du soldat de l'armée russe et les taux de mortalité sont plus que jamais sujets à caution. »

Un ouvrage à découvrir aux éditions Perrin (2026) : https://www.lisez.com/livres/larmee-russe-1453-2025/9782262097691

@cnrs @cnrsshs @mate_shs_cnrs @sociology @the_conversation_fr @academia @Xeniax

#research #socialsciences #histoire #histodons #russia #ukraine #war #moscou #kremlin #soldiers #soviet #tsar #slavic #defense #history #crm #liechtenhan

#research #socialsciences #histoire #histodons #russia #ukraine

Thor A. Hopland @[email protected] · 2026-07-28 · 19:09 UTC

You know they are knuckle dragging #nationalists, because they beat up an old man who stood up for a young boy.

#Russia has tendrils stretching across #slavic countries because #Putin has the goal of making them all into vassal states.

#Polish people who support this must admit to themselves that they hate sovereignty, liberty and that they want throw away all their ancestors bled and died for.

#Poland's Tusk calls for end to hate crimes against #Ukrainians
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/polands-tusk-calls-end-hate-112401824.html

#nationalists #russia #slavic #putin #polish #poland

Thor A. Hopland @[email protected] · 2026-07-28 · 19:09 UTC

You know they are knuckle dragging #nationalists, because they beat up an old man who stood up for a young boy.

#Russia has tendrils stretching across #slavic countries because #Putin has the goal of making them all into vassal states.

#Polish people who support this must admit to themselves that they hate sovereignty, liberty and that they want throw away all their ancestors bled and died for.

#Poland's Tusk calls for end to hate crimes against #Ukrainians
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/polands-tusk-calls-end-hate-112401824.html

#nationalists #russia #slavic #putin #polish #poland

W1L3NSK1 @[email protected] · 2026-06-22 · 02:01 UTC

In Poland, KUPALA NIGHT - Eve of Saint John’s (Noc Świętojańska) blends ancient Slavic midsummer rites with Christian tradition. Celebrated on the shortest night of the year, it honors fire, water, and love - marked by bonfires, floating flower wreaths, and folklore about magic ferns. A night where nature, myth, and community meet.

#Poland #EveOfStJohns #KupalaNight #MidSummer #Rites #Traditions #Slavic #Folklore #Ferns #Legends #Culture #Community #Magic #EC

#poland #eveofstjohns #kupalanight #midsummer #rites #traditions

W1L3NSK1 @[email protected] · 2026-06-21 · 19:27 UTC

Happy Summer Solstice! (June 21st 2026)

This day of days marks the point when our regal death star is at its furthest point from the equator, delivering unto us the longest span of sunshine and the briefest night we’ll see all year.

#Sun #Summer #Solstice #Celebration #Midsommar #KupalaNight #Slavic #Midsummer #SummerSolstice #Light #Sunlight #Rituals

#sun #summer #solstice #celebration #midsommar #kupalanight

W1L3NSK1 @[email protected] · 2026-06-21 · 19:27 UTC

Happy Summer Solstice! (June 21st 2026)

This day of days marks the point when our regal death star is at its furthest point from the equator, delivering unto us the longest span of sunshine and the briefest night we’ll see all year.

#Sun #Summer #Solstice #Celebration #Midsommar #KupalaNight #Slavic #Midsummer #SummerSolstice #Light #Sunlight #Rituals

#sun #summer #solstice #celebration #midsommar #kupalanight

PugJesus @[email protected] · 2026-06-15 · 15:33 UTC

Medieval Pagan Slavic villagers being 'converted' by the sword (Richard Hook)

https://piefed.social/c/historyart/p/2141020/medieval-pagan-slavic-villagers-being-converted-by-the-sword-richard-hook

#art #europe #religion #history #christianity #military

PugJesus @[email protected] · 2026-06-15 · 15:33 UTC

Medieval Pagan Slavic villagers being 'converted' by the sword (Richard Hook)

https://piefed.social/c/historyart/p/2141020/medieval-pagan-slavic-villagers-being-converted-by-the-sword-richard-hook

#art #europe #religion #history #christianity #military

Saustrup @[email protected] · 2026-06-11 · 12:20 UTC

Recently I've become quite fond of the modernized reboots of #slavic (specifically #Ukrainian) #folkmusic. One of them is Shum (Noise) by #Go_a: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbduutHagwk

#eurovision #ukraine

#slavic #ukrainian #folkmusic #go_a #eurovision #ukraine

Saustrup @[email protected] · 2026-06-11 · 12:20 UTC

Recently I've become quite fond of the modernized reboots of #slavic (specifically #Ukrainian) #folkmusic. One of them is Shum (Noise) by #Go_a: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbduutHagwk

#eurovision #ukraine

#slavic #ukrainian #folkmusic #go_a #eurovision #ukraine

zenobit :osowoso: @[email protected] · 2026-06-07 · 07:17 UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2NJ5Aal9f4
#drum_and_bass #folktrónica #slavic #organic #ethno

#drum_and_bass #folktronica #slavic #organic #ethno

Gocha :prami: @[email protected] · 2026-05-18 · 20:18 UTC

Because of my recent “peasant-mania” („Chłopomania” in Polish) obsession, I discovered something called Urzecze some time ago. I came across it while digging into the genealogy of my ancestors. On both sides of my family - my mother’s and my father’s - it turned out that our ancestors were Urzeczanie, and the region where my family has lived “forever” is actually a historical microregion called Urzecze.

Urzecze is a forgotten Warsaw/sub-Warsaw microregion stretching from the area of Mokotów all the way to Góra Kalwaria. Its culture was revived by Dr. Maurycy Stanaszek (Polish anthropologist, historian, and researcher).

When I learned about this region, I contacted Dr. Stanaszek and shared my family tree with him, which confirmed my earlier suspicions. I also gave him the oldest family photographs I managed to find at home.

Suddenly, I realized that some old family house was actually a typical example of Urzecze architecture, or that my grandfather making a living in his youth by weaving wicker baskets and fishing in the Vistula River was also a very typical Urzecze occupation. Some expressions I remembered older people using in my childhood turned out to be part of the Urzecze dialect.

These people were deeply connected to the Vistula River - and back then, the Vistula was basically a highway. They made their living through fishing, river transport, and draining wetlands along the riverbanks, something they had done for centuries. And most of them were actually… immigrants.

They arrived here by sailing down the Vistula at the end of the 17th century from areas that are now Latvia, Estonia, Finland, northern Germany, Western Pomerania, Pomerania, and the Netherlands. They knew how to drain marshlands, so the Polish nobility hired them on contracts. They lived under Olęder law and were free people.

One beautiful thing about Urzecze was how open it was - you only had to settle there to become one of them ❤️

And somehow, all of this was forgotten. Why? It feels as if the generation born after World War II completely cut itself off from this culture.

I honestly feel like I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole 😂 but at the same time, it’s such an amazing adventure. Last weekend, I went to the Urzecze Festival to learn more about the culture. It was a pretty surreal experience, because some of the traditions presented there reminded me of my childhood at my grandparents’ house (they also lived in Urzecze, on the same street as my parents, just a few houses away).

I’m definitely going to keep digging into this history. I still have several Urzecze festivals ahead of me, as well as other events connected more broadly with traditional peasant culture. I’ll definitely come back with more fun facts 😂

I also already have a few ideas for projects connected to all of this. I’m completely obsessed at this point - and I need to make use of it 😂

I’m attaching a photo showing women wearing traditional Urzecze folk costumes.

Like this post please if you found it interesting - I’ll know there’s someone here who wants to read more of this stuff :P

#Urzecze #PolishHistory #Genealogy #FolkCulture #Vistula #Wisla #WarsawHistory #Mazowsze #Poland #HistoriaPolski #KulturaLudowa #Historia #Chlopomania #Roots #FamilyHistory #TravelThroughHistory #Heritage #Ethnography #DiscoverPoland #TraditionalCulture #ForgottenHistory #SlavicCulture #Photography #PolishTraditions #Microhistory #polishculture #peasant #slavic

#urzecze #polishhistory #genealogy #folkculture #vistula #wisla