[Avodah] spanish minhagim

[Eli Turkel]

I am spending 3 months in Madrid and have seen several interesting customs.
First I learned from here, Lisbon and the Portugese shul in Amsterdam that they
all have sifrei Torah that look like Ashkenazi ones and not like the
round wooden covers
of edot mizrach in Israel. They have a white sheet that goes the
length of the Torah
and protects each daf. I have not checked what kind of lettering is used.
It seems that many Spanish minhagim are different than edot mizrach. I asked the
rabbi who grew up in Spanish Morocco. He said that also there they used an
Ashenazi style sefer Torah.
Obviously no one here has a tradition of hundreds of years as Jews were not
allowed in Spain for many centuries. Nevertheless the minhagim both in
Spain and in
Portugal seemed to be old authentic ones.
BTW obviously no one here knows of any cherem not to live in Spain

This week we went to a wedding husband was from Mexico and the bride from US
and they met in and got married in Madrid. The chupa was suspended from the
roof of the shul and so there were no amudim. All the friends of the
chatan were called
up to sign the ketuva after it was read. The rabbis were not under the
chupa but in
front, by the microphone. Only the chatan, kallah and parents were
under the chuppah

Most fascinating was at the end of the chupa the chatan recited "Im eshkacheck
Yerushalayim ..." out loud and then broke the glass. Right afterwards the chatan
and kallah went to the aron kodesh immediately in back of the chupa
and it was opened
for them. They remained in front of the open aron kodesh, I assume
saying prayers,
for several minutes. Only then was it closed and they exited the hall

-- 
Eli Turkel