[Avodah] Berich Shemei

[Dov Bloom]

Richard Wolpoe wrote in response to R Micha's question: 
I have heard TWO versions.
Version A  - The yekkishe Minhag is pre-Ari etc. and therfore NEVER incorporated Brich  Shemi etc.
Version B  - The Yekkes reacted to Shabtai Zvi and therfore removed kabbalah AFTERWARDS 
...I favor Version B but note that  I suspect some Shlah influence  [e.g tikkun leil Shavuos] but NOT Lurianic stuff.  [E.G. no Psalm 30 before Barcu She'amar]

I (DB) favor version A. 

Ashkenaz poskim Rishonim and Achronim  stressed the minhag very much. 
There is a famous Maharil that especially on issues connected with Tfila one should respect the minhag and not even change the tunes in shul! 

We know the "yekkim" coined the phrase "minhag avoteinu Torah Hi". 

See Magen Avraham on SA OH 690 22 who stresses the importance of following minhag, quoting the Tshuvot HaRamah besheim HaMaharik on not abandoning a minhag, and explaining the principle "minhag oker halacha".

WRT Berich Shmei, Siddur Avodat Yisrael of Baer says in place of his regular commentary in Shacharit of Shabbat (p 222) (my translation) "Berich Shmei has been copied into the new (!) siddurim from the Zohar...".  

On page 122,Shacharit of weekdays, he says clearly that Berich Shmei is not found in the 2 important 16 century siddurim that he quotes from all the time , "gam beKitvei Yad uv'chol siddur yashan einenu, veHaAcharonim he'etiku mi-Zohar al-pi HaAri....ve'Yaan ki beharbeh kehilot Ashkenaz ein omrim oto lo aarich be'peirusho" (neither is it found in the siddur manuscripts nor in any old siddur, and the Achronim [he means here newcomers, Johnny-come-latelys, not poskim achronim] copied it from the Zohar according to the Ari. Since many Ashkenazic communities don't say it I won't bother commenting on it....). [ad can leshono]

So R Seligman Baer who extensively studied the Ashkenazi Siddurim in old printed versions and manuscripts says nothing to indicate RRW's Version B, that Berich Shmei was ever included in Ashkenazi tfila and later excluded because of SZ. If there were MSS or siddurim to evidence, he would quote them (see below on Kabbalat Shabbat).

RRW correctly brings a parallel. Mizmor Shir Hanukat HaBayit LeDavid, which is a late addition (less than 200 years) is not found in Yekke siddurim. 

I may add that Baer and Heidenheim also don't print Thilim 27 LeDavid, H Ori VeYishi, which Litvaks say from RH Elul thru Sukkot. That is also a very very late addition so the classic Yekkim of course didn't add it to their siddurim, because "minhag avoteinu Torah Hi". Neither do they repeat Zecher-Zeicher on Shabbat Zachor, which has become popular only in the last decades and has been discussed on Avodah extensively before.  

One late addition which did find its way into the Yekke Siddurim is Kabbalat Shabbat. Baer correctly notes that all of the Kitvei Yad don't have Kabbalat Shabbat, and "lo yad'u hakadmonim davar me-amiratam beleil Shabbat....". He quoted the Mate Moshe in 1615 as still not having it, and says he found it first mentioned by Yosif Ometz in 1630. He (grudgingly?) quotes the Ya'avetz as having it in his siddur "Al pi haRamak" (Cordovero). He identifies the time of the Ramak and goes on to include Kabbalat Shabbat in his Siddur and even comments on it, unlike Berich Shmei....