It has long bothered me that among fellow Jews, even our common language has built-in divisions:
Shabbos, Shabbat
Tallis, tallit
Sukkos, Sukkot
Bat mitzvah, bas mitzvah
I wish we could just ascribe a “tomayto, tomahto” attitude here, but it seems there are some deep attachments to one’s familiar ways of hearing and saying Hebrew – and some consciously overt preferences as well.
These divisions are generally characterized as “Sephardic and Ashkenazic,” but it’s not that simple. For one, the modern state of Israel, populated in large numbers by Jews of Ashkenazic descent, employ the “Sephardic” pronunciations, using the “t” sound wherever the Hebrew letter “tav” appears, as opposed to pronouncing some of them (grammar-dependent) as an “s.” Also, the Reform movement, and possibly the Conservative movement, or at least parts of it, employ the Sephardic pronunciation as well, even where its leaders or adherents are of Ashkenazic descent. I am unsure why this is. Perhaps to identify with the state of Israel?
According to Rabbi Joe Blair:
As a way of integrating and welcoming the refugees from the Muslim
lands, the State of Israel decided to institute the practice of teaching
Sephardi pronunciation as the official Hebrew spoken in Israel. Most
Hebrew speakers today use this pronunciation. There is a still-sizeable
number of Ashkenazi Jews who have chosen to remain with that
pronunciation; in particular, the Orthodox (and as some would call them,
the ultra-Orthodox) have chosen to hold to the Ashkenazi pronunciation.
This is interesting, because there were Ashkenazic refugees as well. I think that somehow along the way the Ashkenazic pronunciation became associated with the “old-style” Jew, the “shtetl” Jew – and perhaps this was not the image the state of Israel wished to retain.
When my family lived in Israel for five years, we spoke modern Hebrew, the “Sephardic” way – and I got so used to this that when we returned to the states and put our kids in schools where the “s” sound was used instead, it sounded so odd to my ears. Yet, in Israel, I often felt on the defensive if I inadvertently slipped into the “s” version – like I was outing myself as a hopelessly outdated Jew.
Now I use whatever word I think my fellow conversant is most used to. Here on the blog I flip back and forth. When I see someone approaching, I wish them “Good Shabbos” if I think they might be more used to that, or “Shabbat Shalom” if I think that’s their thing. Of course, my split-second assessments are often wrong. Sometimes the approacher corrects me and greets me with the “right” version. If I’m greeted, I simply return the greeting as it’s offered to me.
So to you, readers, I ask:
Are the different pronunciations such a big deal? What do they mean to you?
Interesting to know the history there, Ruchi! I think you're right–the one you say does seem to carry some kind of symbol with it. Shabbos (to me) = more religious and as people get more religious, they tend to switch. I go back and forth too. I tend to say Shabbos to my more religious friends. But at our school and pre-school, it's Shabbat.
I have taught Hebrew to adults and children for more years than I care to say in Reform and Conservative settings, always Sephardit pronunciation. And I was always told the synagogue chose that pronunciation as it was the pronunciation used in Modern Hebrew.
I don't think we should look at it as a "more religious/less religious." It may be that way in the yeshivish world, but I think that's disparaging of Modern Orthodox Jews, who may hold differently than yeshivish Jews, but who I don't think it is fair to define as "less religious."
Ironically, this was the halacha of the day email from Rabbi Eli J. Mansour, a Syrian rabbi from New York. It's Sephardit/Ashkenazit is a lot more than pronunciation…
"Description: A Beracha Recited by an Ashkenazi Which Sepharadim Do Not Recite
If a Sepharadi hears an Ashkenazi recite a Beracha in a situation where Sepharadim do not recite a Beracha, should he answer “Amen” to that Beracha? For example, Ashkenazim have the practice to recite a Beracha before Hallel on Rosh Hodesh. Sepharadim do not follow this custom, and thus a Sepharadi who recites the Beracha in this situation would be considered as having recited a “Beracha Le’batala” (a Beracha in vain). Similarly, Ashkenazim customarily recite a Beracha before they put on their Tefillin Shel Rosh – “Al Misvat Tefillin” – in addition to the Beracha recited before laying the Tefillin Shel Yad. (They then add “Baruch Shem Kebod Malchuto Le’olam Va’ed” after placing the Tefillin Shel Rosh.) Here, too, it would be forbidden for a Sepharadi to recite such a Beracha, even though Ashkenazim recite it.
Another example is a situation of a woman who performs a Misva from which women are exempt (“Misvot Aseh She’ha’zman Gerama”). Sepharadic women may not recite a Beracha in this case, whereas Ashkenazic women indeed recite the Beracha in such situations, such as before shaking a Lulab.
In all these cases, if a Sepharadi hears the Ashkenazi recite the Beracha, should he answer “Amen”?
Rabbi Moshe Halevi (Israel, 1961-2001), in his work Birkat Hashem, rules that a Sepharadi may answer “Amen” to such a Beracha. Since the custom among Ashkenazim is to recite this Beracha, and the Ashkenazi thus does not act incorrectly by reciting it, the Beracha is considered valid and legitimate. As such, it warrants the response of “Amen,” even by somebody who does not follow that custom.
Hacham Ovadia Yosef, however, in his work Yabia Omer, disagrees. He notes that the Halachic principle of “Safek Berachot Le’hakel,” which states that one does not recite a Beracha when its requirement is subject to doubt, applies to answering “Amen,” as well. Meaning, one does not answer “Amen” to a Beracha if there is some question as to whether this response is warranted. Therefore, in the cases mentioned above, where Ashkenazim and Sepharadim disagree as to whether the Beracha is required, one should not answer “Amen” to the Beracha. Halacha indeed follows this position, and therefore a Sepharadi should not answer “Amen” to a Beracha recited by an Ashkenazi that Sepharadim are not accustomed to reciting. He can answer “Amen” silently in his mind, but he should not answer “Amen” verbally.
Summary: If a Sepharadi hears an Ashkenazi recite a Beracha that Sepharadim do not recite, such as the Beracha before Hallel on Rosh Hodesh, the Sepharadi should not answer “Amen.” "
This is so interesting! So how does Mansour come to the conclusion that Halevi's position is incorrect and that "Halacha indeed follows this position" when it comes to Yosef's position?
Because Ovadia Yosef is (excuse the expression) the big kehuna among contemporary Sephardic poskim. Many contemporary Sephardim follow his ruling l'chumra (where they are stricter than average) and l'kula (where they are more lenient then average.)
Being so new to so much, I'm never sure which to say…..I like both "Gut Shabbos" and "Sabbat Shalom"(which is a song I sing, too)…..I know my background is Ashkenazi…..basically I'm just hungry for all things Jewish, loving learning, and trying to find my own wee path…..
I grew up with the Israeli pronunciation, and that's the one I'm emotionally attached to. It isn't completely Sephardi; I don't pronounce the chet or ayin Sephardi-style (but I do call the letter "chet" and not "ches"). As a kid, I always associated the Ashkenazi pronunciation with old people; I remember being really surprised when a boy at Camp Ramah (Conservative) used it. I do love hearing beautiful Israeli Hebrew, and to me the Ashkenazi pronunciation sounds foreign.
I sometimes say, "Good Shabbos," but to me that's English, not Ashkenazi. It tends to depend on the person I'm talking to. But I never say "oy" instead of "o" and I never use the Ashkenazi pronunciation for prayer. That would feel to me like joking around instead of serious prayer.
This post hit home, as I've thought about these issues for some time. Thanks.
I daven and learn using an Ashkenazic pronunciation. It is important for me to do so, as it makes me feel connected to the worlds of my grandparents who were Holocaust survivors from Poland (Warsaw and Zwolen). Also, I happen to have a very Yiddish name, one that admittedly can be awkward at times, but it is still special to me because it is after an alter-zeide and many tzadikim carried this name, too. Hint: a Russian immigrant cartoon mouse from the early nineties also carried this name! Thank you Mr. Spielberg! 🙂
What I don't appreciate is encountering hostility from some Israelis not only about the Ashkenazic pronunciation, but my name! As if it's not an authentic Jewish name! The irony, of course, is that Yiddish names go back far, far longer than some modern Israeli Hebrew names! I think the "old style / shtetel Jew" association is not for nothing. When I visited a chasidic shtiebel in Meah Shearim, that was one synagogue in Israel where I did not feel self-conscious with my Ashkenazic pronunciation or my Yiddish name!
I am not encouraging speaking modern Hebrew with an Ashkenazic pronunciation… that would sound absurd! BUT… I do think it's important for us Ashkenazim to maintain our pronunciation for davening and learning, and to keep giving our children Yiddish names. AND, I would add, I would just as strongly urge Yemenites to maintain theirs. And likewise for Sefardim. And whoever else I'm missing!
Jewish unity isn't when we all speak and sound the same, but when we all respect and love each other (and all our different minhagim and names) regardless! I admit, however, sometimes I do wonder what kind of pronunciation and name will Moshiach have! 🙂
Incidentally, an article on Hebrew Wikipedia points out that although the Israeli pronunciation is mostly Sephardi, the Israeli national anthem uses Ashkenazi stress patterns (which, I might add, aren't even correct according to Ashkenazim).
I use Sephardi pronunciation because that's what I learned. The "s" sound instead of "t" does not bother me and I don't really have an opinion on it. What does bother me is the Ashkenazi way of stressing syllables toward the beginning of the word. That can change the meaning of words. I guess it's my Hebrew pet peeve, although I slip into it sometimes with a few words myself.
Sukkos, sukkot, you forgot seeckiss!
I believe that the primary reason why the Reform and Conservative movements have adopted the Israeli pronunciation is because the only available teachers of Hebrew in many communities are former Israelis. This is partially because they would not want to hire Orthodox teachers and because Orthodox would not be interested teaching in such Temples.
Interesting theory. In Cleveland, I have a few Orthodox friends who teach in Reform or Conservative temples.
Ialso know of Orthodox who teach in such environments, but many are not comfortable doing so. How do they pronounce Hebrew when teaching there?
Funny, I don't even know there were different pronunciations until my brother moved to Israel. He came back and informed us out pronunciation was all wrong. 😉 I grew up with no real affiliation but we did belong to a conservative synagogue.
On a totally unrelated note, today I walked by this restaurant and thought of you Ruchi, ha! http://Www.ruchiindianrestaurant.com
Becca (couldn't sign in!)
Thanks Becca, love that!!
Adam Goldberg, I am an Orthodox Jew who has been teaching in a Reform synagogue school for eight years. I am not the only Orthodox teacher there. I respect them; they respect me.
When I am teaching, I pronounce Sephardit. When I daven, I pronounce Sephardit, because I learned through and kiruv organization that doesn't dictate which pronunciation.
And when I talk to my neighbors or help my kids with homework, it's Ashkenazis.
I disagree with what Rabbi Blair said about the reason for adopting the Sephardi pronunciation. The decision was made by the Hebrew Language Committee (the predecessor of the Hebrew Language Academy) in 1913, long before the arrival of large numbers of refugees from Muslim lands (and long before there was a State of Israel). One the main reasons was historical authenticity. Another factor was that the lingua franca among Jews in Jerusalem was already Sephardi Hebrew. I assume attitudes were an unofficial reason. See http://ha-historion.blogspot.co.il/2010/01/ashkenazim-and-sephardic-custom-and.html
But in fact, the Israeli pronunciation is a mixture of the two. For instance, although radio and television newscasters used to be required to pronounce the chet and ayin, they don't do it anymore.
Dg, can you elaborate about historical authenticity and the lingua franca piece?
Read the piece that I mentioned in my previous comment. It goes into more detail on that. Basically, the Sephardi pronunciation makes more distinctions between letters than the Ashkenazi pronunciation does.
While looking for more information just now, I found an excerpt of the decision itself, which makes it a bit more complicated. According to that, major considerations were ease of spelling (since each letter would be pronounced differently) and ease of pronunciation. Also, they decided to pronounce the vav like the English w, the tav without a dagesh like the English th, and the tet like a particular Arabic letter that I don't know how to pronounce. They also decided to dispense with the dagesh kal in the gimmel and dalet (maybe only in some cases; I'm not sure). I would have to really study the issue and find more documents in order to figure out what all their reasons were.
Totally unrelated to that 1913 decision, I have heard that the Yemenite pronunciation is probably most like the original. But pronunciations have been diverging since Biblical times. According to the book of Judges, the people of Ephraim pronounced the letter shin like a samech ("s" instead of "sh"). It may not have been exactly like a samech; perhaps it was simply more like a samech than the others pronounced it. In any case, it was different.
please see here for more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephardi_Hebrew#Influence_on_Israeli_Hebrew
There are many problems with R' Blair's story – most of the Jews from Muslim lands weren't even Sfaradi – they were Mizrakhi (Oriental). And there was no attitude of accommodation. As far as the "founding fathers" saw, they were backward, too religious, under educated and down right useless to a modern state. So, there were major attempts to assimilate them. Some going as far as alleged "kidnapping" of thousands of Yemenite kids.
I think it's just a fantasy created to explain away the sad fact that good yiddishe bocherim could so disrespect the yerusha of their avos to pronounce their Hebrew differently. But that actually IS the reason. Most Socialist Zionists were not just anti-religious, they were anti everything that stood for the old life – the Shtetl, the pale of settlement, the peddling, the clothes, the religion, Yiddish – all had to go. They were creating a new Jew. A Farmer-Warrior-Statesman. And the pronunciation they picked was "academic" in line with their Haskala leanings. As far as they were concerned, Sfaradim were just as backwards if not worse than their own cousins back in Russia.
That said, as Larry pointed out below, there really is no "Ashkenazi" pronunciation. Other than sav as opposed to tav. While all the consonants are pretty much the same, every community pronounces their vowels differently.
Same thing is in evidence among Sfaradim/Mizrakhim – The consonants are almost the same (some don't pronounce Ayin or Het, but Tzadi is always Sadi) but vowels are different from community to community, although not as varied as in Europe
First of all, you're generalizing. I've read enough about the subject to know that there was a wide range of attitudes toward Mizrachim among the early Zionists and the early leaders of the State of Israel.
Second, do you really mean to imply that pronouncing words differently from your parents is the most extreme form of disrespect? That pronouncing the tav the way the Sephardim do was worse than ignoring Shabbos, for instance?
Third, the first paragraph of David Yellin's summary of the 1913 committee debates suggests that the committee members agreed that Hebrew had lost Arabic-like sounds over the centuries. Is it disrespectful to try to recover the original pronunciation? Is it disrespectful to rely on linguists to determine what the letters sounded like thousands of years ago? Pronunciations diverged under the influence of other languages that Jews spoke in various countries. Jews in Europe presumably couldn't pronounce certain sounds; does that make not pronouncing them holy? If English-speakers can't pronounce a chaf, should we ban the sound for all their descendants forevermore?
Great observation Ruchi! tomayto/tomahto, white kipah/black yarmelkah, Shabbos/ Shabbat… Jewish/Jewish
There are many more pronunciations than two, as I am reminded each Shabbat when I go to my shteible and hear the Chassidic ashkenazic pronounciation(which includes pronouncing 'oo' sounds as 'ee' and other changes. Also, I find the pronunciation of my friends who grew up in Sephardic households to be easily distinguishable from native Israeli speakers of Hebrew, so I'd say there are multiple 'Sephardic' dialects as well.
Definitely. And since you're a yekke, don't forget that the Israeli "o" is pronounced "ow" by the German Jews.
By the way, it's not just Ashkenazim who switch between one pronunciation for prayer and another for conversation. I remember being in a Moroccan synagogue in Israel (I think in the late '80s) and being surprised to hear Israeli kids (probably teenagers) change their entire voice quality for prayer. I forget if they changed their pronunciation, too. And I was at a wedding where the groom was of Yemenite descent, and they pronounced the blessings differently from the way Israelis speak (I remember "melech" sounding like "malach," with short a's, as in the English word "at").
I learned Hebrew, as a reform convert, from a non Jew interested in Judaism who learned it from an nonreligious Israeli…then I had an orthodox conversion in an Ashkneazi schul but in a community with a large Sephardi population, and the local Hebrew Academy used the Sephardi pronunciations-mostly. For the past year I have been learning to read and translate Chumash with a private teacher who also teaches at MosDos. Just now I am trying to change to consistent Ashkenazi pronunciation as it has been quite a mix up for me. I find it hard to be consistent! Some words or concepts just feel right to me in one pronunciation or the other and it is so hard to let it go. And I can not always understand something in one pronunciation that I am actually familiar with in another. A funny thing: when our daughter made a trip to Israel she met a Chasidic fellow who asked her if she had been to "the koisel" yet-and she said no, what is the koisel?
I remember we had someone speak to our Sunday school once who pronounced Torah "toyrah" – boy was that a culture shock! Even my pronunciation, "Torah" (long "o") is different from how many non-Orthodox Jews say it, which is more like "Tawrah."
When I attended Cleveland Hebrew Schools and Akiva in the 60s-70s there existed a very strong identification with the state of Israel, including maps and tourism posters covering the walls, teaching of Israeli kibbutz songs and dance, Israeli poetry, etc. Many of the teachers were secular Israelis, Israel's existence was being threatened in the '67 and '73 wars and, in all honesty, genuine religious discussions were virtually non-existent. (I'm amazed that today, even in the least observant religious schools, god-talk seems ubiquitous).
In that atmosphere, ashkenazic pronunciation represented something else, something pre-Israel and therefore something, I don't know, less relevant?
Ruchi, Todah for quoting me – I would just like to point out that you must have found this quote on Jewish Values Online [http://jewishvaluesonline.org] at http://www.jewishvaluesonline.org/question.php?id=245, with an additional related answer posted at http://www.jewishvaluesonline.org/question.php?id=468. 🙂 We are thrilled that people find the website to be useful and helpful, and hope that many more people will read there and pose questions.
Rabbi Joe Blair
for Jewish Values Online
Rabbi Blair, there is some discussion and disagreement here concerning your post. I wonder if you could respond/elaborate?
I learned to speak Hebrew at a Modern Orthodox day school in Baltimore where we were taught in Sephardi style, in spite of having all Ashkenazi rabbis. I believe the reason they did this as others have mention is to keep in line with Hebrew in Israel. The problem of course being that we tended to have Ashkenazi stress patterns in speech with Sephardi pronunciation. Furthermore, it maybe of questionable halachic practice since both my father and grandfathers use/used Ashkenazi pronunciation, although none of them had a particular dialect accent from Europe.
Hi Ruchie! I teach in a high school in Beit Shemesh where we have an amazing teacher who is currently in the middle of her doctorate on the Hebrew language. I asked her this question and she told me that when the "VAAD Halashon Haivri" – the predecessor to the current body who makes decisions about Hebrew words was first meeting, they had to make this decision. While almost all of the people were Ashkenazi, they realized that the Sefardic pronunciation remains truer to the correct pronunciation and more importantly stress of the Hebrew words as they are meant to be read when reading from the Torah. Ask any good Ba'al Koreh about "mile-el and mi-lera" – they are very difficult for typical American kids to learn because the stress is not where they are used to putting it. So, back then they decided to keep as close as possible to the correct stresses and pronunciation of the words based on Ta'amei Hamikra.
My Hebrew is weird, and I blame Chabad. I studied Modern Hebrew in college before converting and started attending services at Hillel and Chabad not long after I took my first Hebrew class. Hillel's davening was all Sephardic pronunciation, unsurprisingly, and Chabad's was typical Chabad, very heavy on the "'oy" and "saf" instead of "taf."
The end result of four years of heavy Chabad attendance (plus another two in Japan, actually), usually at Shabbos dinner, is that while most of my davening is typical, Conservative davening, with the Sephardic pronunciation, I find myself randomly lapsing into Ashkenazi mode, but not for everything. The Shemona Esrei, for instance, I always do with Sephardic pronunciation. Benching, on the other hand, is Ashkenazi all the way. Ditto Kaddish, though I have no idea why that is. It's me and the elderly folks at shul, all saf-ing away.
I actually like the Ashkenazi accent for davening and find it a little sad that it's dying out in a lot of non-Orthodox communities because of the push for Israeli Hebrew, and I don't think it would be a bad thing to try and preserve it, to some extent.
Chabad actually does "ei" instead of "oy" (as in Teiras Meisheh)
That was my point above, the common feature of most Ashkenazic pronunciations is distinguishing between "tav" and "sav". One would think that is closer to "original" pronunciation than just the lumping of the two together like Mizrakhim and some Arabs. Otherwise, why bother with a dagesh in the first place?
Incidentally, seemingly in Rashi's Provence they pronounced the sav as thaf (as in THanks). But I suppose that dialect is probably Sephardic anyway.
The Yemenites pronounce it "th" as in "thin" (and the dalet without a dagesh is "th" as in "this"). It makes sense that this was the original because people whose languages lack the former generally pronounce it either "t" or "s". So I can see how it would have turned into those.
I haven't done a big document dump on a topic in a while, have I? So this is about the differences between Israeli (as spoken by Israelis) and Hebrew (as defined by the secular Israeli authority figures).
A fascinating — and entertaining article. I disagree with him about some of what he says, though. For instance, a major premise in his article is that "native speakers do not make mistakes" and therefore anything that Israelis say is correct "Israeli." Well, just between you and I, I must point out that there's several mistakes that me and my friends make in English, despite being native speakers. (Actually, I don't make two of the three mistakes in that sentence, but some people do.) Also, some of the things he points out are simply matters of slurring. I find it hard to believe (although I'd love to hear the evidence) that slurring words is an Ashkenazi invention.
Larry, I thoroughly enjoyed that article. Thanks!
I was once in a class where the teacher kept saying, "Avraham Avinu was GADlus" (i.e., the Patriarch Abraham was the epitome of greatness). I was sitting there for the longest time trying to figure out how she could say that Abraham was godless when he was interacting with God all the time. I would have pronounced the last word gadLUT, so I didn't realize what she was saying.
the Israeli "sephardic" pronunciation is a pet peeve of mine and a misnomer, imho. First a bit of personal background – I myself learned in the ashkenazic pronunciation during my primary years in school and then attended a more "modern" institution where the pronunciation of choice was sephardic. So I am comfortable in both but thank the One Above for having a solid grounding in the ashkenazic, which provides inestimable help in deciphering words and their correct meaning.
As others have mentioned here, there were numerous "correct" pronunciations of the Hebrew language throughout the generations, dating back even to the time of the 12 tribes living in peace in their ancestral land. Ashkenazic pronunciation isn't any more or less correct than sephardic, nor are either a reliable proof of religiosity.
However, the proper sephardic pronunciation differentiates between 'cheit' and 'chaf', 'ayin' and 'alef', again as already mentioned.
Instead of adopting one correct pronunciation for everyone, what the modern Israelis did was to blur many differences between both letters and vowels, in essence halving the amount of sounds available in the language and marring its integral beauty. (ie not only does patach sound just like kamatz, but tzeira sounds just like segel) no wonder it's so hard to understand people here nowadays! on the other hand, the wrongly emphasized syllables by Ashkenazim is a yiddishism and incorrect Hebrew – so it seems that just about everybody is all mixed up!
ben-yehoshua's reasoning of why the State's' founding fathers adopted davka sephardic pronunciation – although a rather sound perspective of the sad state of affairs at the time, makes it seem all the more ludicrous to me.
People lately are so into cultural diversification.Why shouldn't true ashkenazim pronounce the language according to their own tradition with pride and sephardim according to theirs?! Why dilute our rich cultural heritage by cheap imitation?
When I pray with the Israeli pronunciation (which is essentially what Sephardic pronunciation evolved into with an Ashkenazic accent), I'm saying words in a language that I speak. For me to put on an Ashkenazic pronunciation for prayer would detract from the meaning. It would be like putting on a fake British accent instead of speaking to God seriously.
Thanks. Grew up with all the s-endings and have always wondered why they all now seem to "t." Sephardic it is, then!