Minhag Polin/Minhag Lita (Polish/Lithuanian/Prague rite) is the

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

minhag ''Minhag'' ( he, מנהג "custom", classical pl. מנהגות, modern pl. , ''minhagim'') is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, ''Nusach (Jewish custom), Nusach'' (), refers to the traditional order and fo ...

of the

Polish Jews The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lo ...

, the Polish/Lithuanian or Eastern branch of

Nusach Ashkenaz Nusach Ashkenaz is a style of Jewish liturgy conducted by Ashkenazi Jews. It is primarily a way to order and include prayers, and differs from Nusach Sefard (as used by the Hasidim) and Baladi-rite prayer, and still more from the Sephardic rite ...

, used in Eastern Europe, the United States and by some Israeli Ashkenazim, particularly those who identify as " Lithuanian". This is different from German or Western branch of Nusach Ashkenaz, known in Hebrew as "Minhag Ashkenaz", used in Western and Central Europe. Minhag Polin has historically been the most common minhag among Ashkenazim in Poland, eastern Germany, the

Czech lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands ( cs, České země ) are the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. Together the three have formed the Czech part of Czechoslovakia since 1918, the Czech Socialist Republic since 1 ...

, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Russia, and was introduced to the

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

n town of

Kojetín Kojetín () is a town in Přerov District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,800 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Kovalovice and Popůvky are administrative parts of Kojetín. Geography Kojetín is located a ...

(present day

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

) in 1648. Currently, there are a number of minor differences between the Israeli and American Ashkenazi practice, in that the Israeli practice follows some practices of the

Vilna Gaon Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, ( he , ר' אליהו בן שלמה זלמן ''Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman'') known as the Vilna Gaon (Yiddish: דער װילנער גאון ''Der Vilner Gaon'', pl, Gaon z Wilna, lt, Vilniaus Gaonas) or Elijah of ...

and certain practices which they adopted from Sephardim.

Minhag Ashkenaz and Minhag Polin

The term "

Minhag Ashkenaz Minhag Ashkenaz is the minhag of the Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi History of the Jews in Germany, German Jews. Minhag Ashkenaz was common in Germany, Austria, the Czech lands, and elsewhere in Western Europe, in contrast to the Minhag Polin of the Ea ...

", strictly applied, refers only to the minhag of German Jews south and west of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

, most notably the community of

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. North-Eastern German communities such as

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

regarded themselves as following Minhag Polin, though their musical tradition and pronunciation of Hebrew, and some of the traditions about the prayers included, were more reminiscent of the western communities than of Poland proper. Jews in Germany were historically divided into the "Bayers" of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

and southern Germany, who followed the Minhag Ashkenaz, and the "Polanders" in northern Germany who followed Minhag Polin.

History

Due to the large diaspora of Polish and Eastern European Jews who left Europe for the Americas, Israel, and elsewhere, Minhag Polin is the most common minhag found among Jews worldwide. Minhag Polin derives from ''Minhag Estraich'', an earlier Ashkenazi rite developed by Jews in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. When Ashkenazi Jews from the Rhineland began to migrate to Poland and Eastern Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they brought the Minhag Rinus with them. Over time, as Jews moved further east, this minhag became known as Minhag Polin. After the appearance of

Hasidic Judaism Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Judaism, Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory ...

in the 18th century and the popularization of

Kabbalah Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...

in Eastern Europe, the Minhag Polin evolved further to incorporate kabbalistic elements.

References

Minhag Ashkenaz and Minhag Polin

History

See also

References