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Ashkenazim
Originally, this term referred to Jews from
Germany. The term comes from the word "Ashkenaz"--one of the
unidentified peoples named in the Bible. In the Middle Ages,
Jews used
it as the geographical name for Germany, and based their
term for Jews net gun
from Germany on it. Their migration to the East meant that
the term came
to include Jews from East Central Europe as well. Ashkenazim
had their
own culture that differed from those of the Sephardic and
Oriental Jews.
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They used various dialects of Yiddish,
cultivated their own customs and art (sacral architecture in
particular), and had different elements in their liturgy,
such as the
order of the prayers and methods of studying the Torah, as
well as a
different pronunciation for Hebrew words. These various
Jewish cultural
groups nevertheless maintained a fundamental religious
unity, and also
influenced one another in a number of ways.
(A.C./CM)
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