[Avodah] Eretz Yisrael and the Roots of Ashkenaz

[Arie Folger]

RMB wrote:
> No surprise that R"Dr HS had long discussions of topics I couldn't
> even think of [that are differences between the Bavli and minhag
> Ashkenaz, which get mentioned in Tosafot --arie]. Still, even if we
> chould get the number up to 20 examples, it still is a negligable
> subset of Tosafos's comments.

But then again, the differences between the two are not so great. The
area of greatest divergences is in prayer, and since R' Amram Gaon was
the first to compose a siddur we know of, he had a disproportionate
influence, bringing a lot of minhag Bavel into Ashkenaz. Furthermore,
with the Islamic Conquest, Israel again became a meeting place between
East and West, Jewishly speaking, and the 9th-10th centuries saw
considerable harmonization between the two traditions.

That's why, for example, Ashkenazim no longer only have eighteen
blessings in the shemeona 'essrei; Et Tsemavh David and
VeliYrushalayim became once again disambiguated, as they had been
before the inclusion of VelaMalshinim.
-- 
Arie Folger,
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