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Religious Ashkenazi Jews living in Israel are obliged to follow the authority of the chief Ashkenazi rabbi in halakhic matters. In this respect, a religiously Ashkenazi Jew is an Israeli who is more likely to support certain religious interests in Israel, including certain political parties.
Ashkenazi Jews are the Jewish ethnic identity most readily recognized by North Americans — the culture of matzah balls, black-hatted Hasidim and Yiddish. This ethnicity originated in medieval Germany.
17 Facts About Ashkenazi Jews. By Menachem Posner. Art by Sefira Lightstone. 1. Ashkenazim Originate In the Rhine Region. The Ashkenazi Jewish population developed in the Rhineland—a region straddling France and Germany—more than 1,000 years ago, and spread throughout Central and Eastern Europe.
Ashkenazim differ from Sephardim in their pronunciation of Hebrew, in cultural traditions, in synagogue cantillation (chanting), in their widespread use of Yiddish (until the 20th century), and especially in synagogue liturgy.
By 1750, out of 2,500 Jews in the American Colonies, the majority was Ashkenazi. They were Yiddish-speaking Jews from Holland, Germany, Poland and England. The first Jews were merchants and traders. Since then, Ashkenazi Jews have built up communities throughout the United States.
Hasidism (Hebrew: חסידות, romanized: Ḥăsīdus) or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe.
Ashkenaz is the Biblical name of a grandson of Japhet, the ancestor of the Romans. Perhaps because the area had been part of the Roman Empire, the region, its language, and its (non-Jewish) inhabitants were associated with that name. In time, the Jews living there became known as Ashkenazim as well.
