Minhag Polin/Minhag Lita (Polish/Lithuanian/Prague rite) is the Ashkenaziminhag of the Polish Jews, the Polish/Lithuanian or Eastern branch of Nusach Ashkenaz, 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, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Russia, and was introduced to the Moravian town of Kojetín (present day Czech Republic) in 1648.[1][2] 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 and certain practices which they adopted from Sephardim.
Minhag Ashkenaz and Minhag Polin
The term "Minhag Ashkenaz", strictly applied, refers only to the minhag of German Jews south and west of the Elbe, most notably the community of Frankfurt am Main.[3] North-Eastern German communities such as Hamburg 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 and southern Germany, who followed the Minhag Ashkenaz, and the "Polanders" in northern Germany who followed Minhag Polin.[4]
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[citation needed]. Minhag Polin derives from Minhag Estraich, an earlier Ashkenazi rite developed by Jews in Austria. 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.[5] After the appearance of Hasidic Judaism in the 18th century and the popularization of Kabbalah in Eastern Europe, the Minhag Polin evolved further to incorporate kabbalistic elements.[6]
^Daniel Goldschimdt, Rosh Hashanah Machzor, page 14 of introduction. An exception to this is regarding the Selichot rites, where the divisions are subdivided further geographically, see Selichot rites.
