Any Sephardi Jews that can answer this please?

Question

Can you tell me how a Sephardi synagogue differs - if it does differ at all - from an Ashkenazi synagogue?

Also, are there any differences in how you practise Judaism to how I, as an Ashkenazi Jew, follow the religion? I'm assuming there are no major differences, but I heard that you can eat things over Pesach, for instance, that we can't.....???

Shanah tovah to you also!

Answer 1

I can only answer you a a half Sephardi and half Ashkenazi. There is a lot of differences. I am raised in the Sephardi customs and I love them better than the Ashkenazi. I attended a Ashkenazi shul for four years of Hebrew school before Bar Mitzvah and saw some prejudice from the Rabbi towards the Sephardim. I blend in well with both and like them both. The melodies are different, and so are the foods. The Ashkenazi speak Yiddish and Sephardi speak Judeo Spanish (Ladino) The beliefs are different because most Sephardim don't have converts and are Jewish by heritage. Ashkenazi have so many converts in their religion because a lot of them see themselves as a religion. Sephardim don't have problem with it being a religion and accepting the converts but they consider it marrying a convert as intermarriage.

It makes a lot of sense to me as my parents are Jewish and so were their parents and their grandparents from Dor L' Dor.

Answer 2

The differences are little. I am mostly Ashkenazic but had one relative who was a Jew from Egypt. Some Sepharidic interpretations of halacha are different. Also Yiddish is an Ashkenazic language.Ladino is a Sephardic Ashkenazic Jews have always kept apart from the cultures they lived in (for the most part) and Sephardi Jews have integrated more or less. There are different pronunciations of the Hebrew used in Shul. The cantor chants a bit differently.
Also remember Yemenite Jews and Ethiopian Jews have different traditions than either Sepharidc or Ashkenazic.
At Pesach Sephardi Jews eat some grains and some legumes. Some Sephardi Jews eat rice at Pesach as well. Sephardi tie tzit tzit differently and tefillin are wound differently around the arm.
Mostly it is smaller things. I see us all as Jews and I have gone to both Sephardic and Ashkenazic Shuls.
Have an easy fast!

Answer 3

I am not Sephardi, but I have experience sephardi Judaism. With regards the synagogue, the main difference is that classic Sephardi synagogues had seating along the peripheral facing towards the center, rather than parallel banches facing towards the front prevalent in modern Ashkenazi synagogues. This goes along with their general view of prayer as a more communal activity than the Ashkenazi counterpart. While prayers themselves are more or less the same (there are some slight differences in phrasing), a standard Sephardi prayer service usually incorporates more sections sung out loud, as well as having random people in the community reading a line here or there out loud. This contrasts with the Ashkenazi style of having one designated cantor who mostly reads the sections under his breath and only repeats the final couple lines of each stanza out loud. In general, Sephardi services are considered more energetic and festive while Ashkenazi services are more reserved and calm (interestingly, also stereotypes for both groups). With regards religious practice, Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions are near identical such that the few differences define each respectively. The two main differences between Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions (I say main because these are class-defining) interestingly are spaced 6 months apart in timing. Slichot are prayers that are said daily leading up to Yom Kippur, yet how long in advance to say them is traditionally different between the two groups. Sepharadim add these prayers to the morning service starting in Elul, the last month of the year (and the last month before Tevet the first month, in which Yom Kippur falls on the tenth) while Ashkenazim only add these prayers after the last Shabbat before Rosh Hashana (which is the first day of Tevet). The second major traditional difference, which you yourself alluded to, regards the consumption of Kitniyot (legumes) on Pesach. For a couple hundred years now Ashkenazim have refrained from eating legumes, most notably rice, in addition to leavened goods on Passover. Sepharadim however never adopted this more stringent tradition, so they continue to eat Kitniyot on Pesach. There are of course other differences between the two traditions, but nothing major.

Answer 4

I will entertain you with my answer. Sfaradi, I noticed, is more sing songy during the davening. By sing songy, I mean that the parts where in an Ashkenazi shul the chazan would say the first line and the people in the shul would say it all quietly to themselves, in the Sfaradi shul, everyone sings the davening along with the chazan. Exception to this is the Amidah of course, which follows the exact same way of Ashkenaz.
Also, in Sfaradi there is a custom which I really like. In Sfaradi, they do Birkat HaCohanim every Shabbat, in opposed to a few times a year in Ashkenaz shul.
I am a Sfaradi (my family was originally from Israel) Jew from the United States and Sfaradi shuls are not that many in number here, so I just go to an Ashkenazi orthodox shul. I honestly would not care that much if there was a Sfaradi shul. The beauty of Judasim means that I feel the same in any shul which is true. There are no denominations in Judaism as there are in other religions, just customs that are a little different. I have no problem going from one shul to another and still keeping up with the davening, using different siddurim, etc.
Shanah Tovah Ve Metukah, Ve Tikatvi Be Sefer Chayim.

EDIT: Thumbs down? Huh?

Answer 5

hi, i'm on my thank you to conversion and have completed plenty study Sephardi Judaism. the 1st Jewish synagogue interior the yank grew to become into Separdic. Many Sephardic synagogues have there amenities in Ladino or Judaismo (Hebrew and old Cervantes Spanish mixed), counting on the place your line comes from. initially, Jews who got here from the Iberian penninsula (Safarad interior the Bible) have been talked approximately as Sephardi Jews. They variety from Anshkenazim because of the fact in the time of the diaspora the Jews who went to Iberia had a various cultural makeup. quite of Yidish, they talk Ladino and quite of an jap ecu (German) weight loss plan they have a greater mediterranian weight loss plan. at present, Sephardi additionally refers back to the diaspora from Spain who settled in places alongside with north Africa and the Balkins. Please observe, it particularly is an unqualified answer.

Answer 6

As a member of reformed Judiasm, (Church of Scotland). I found the replies very informative and interesting. Thank you guys!

Thumbs down.Huh!