Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Differences between Eretz Yisrael and Chutz La'aretz

BZ has an interesting post up on the changes he makes in his prayers. While I don't want to focus on most of them, he mentions a couple distinctions that have always bothered me. Why are there changes in nusach ashkenaz between eretz Yisrael and chutz la'aretz.

For reference here is a list of the most common differences I'm aware of. Please list others I forgot in the comments.
  1. Baruch Hashem Le'olam is said in weekday ma'ariv chutz la'aretz. In Israel it is skipped.
  2. Barchu at the end of weekday ma'ariv and shacharit in Israel.
  3. Sim Shalom is said in Israel in the Shabbat mincha amida. Chutz la'aretz says Shalom Rav.
  4. A longer version of Birkat Hachodesh in Israel.
  5. In the prayer for Israel, there is an extra line added to the version said in Israel. This is in the paragraph that Sim Shalom drops.
  6. Changes in the leining and musaph sacrifices for Chaggim(I'm fairly sure these are a result of the second day of Yom Tov).
Presumably there was one unified tradition that diverged sometime in the past century. But what was the reasoning behind these changes? Are these differences a case of Rabbis inside/outside of Israel being more resistant of change or are there fundamental differences between eretz Yisrael and chutz la'aretz that require these changes? I've never found a decent answer to these questions, so I figured I'd throw it up to the blogosphere. Do any of you guys know the origin of these splits?

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posted by Avi BenJakob @ 10:30 AM 6 comments