Minhagei Amsterdam, a book about the customs and regulations of Ashkenazi Jews in Amsterdam, was published a short time ago by Machon Yerushalayim.
The book carries a lengthy introduction by Rabbi Yehuda Brilleman, the compiler and editor of the volume, in which he discusses the place of the Minhag in Jewish tradition. He also writes about the publications of the Ashkenazi community regarding its customs and communal regulations, on which the volume is largely based, as well as some uncommon customs of the community.
Jews first settled in Amsterdam towards the end of the sixteenth century. The first settlers were Sefardim, mostly Marranos from Portugal. In the first decades of the seventeenth century, they established three synagogues: Beit Jacob, Neveh Shalom and Beit Israel. In 1638 the three Sefardi congregations united to form the Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam.
Ashkenazi Jews from Germany first came to Amsterdam around 1615. In the following years, their numbers increased with the influx of Jews from the Rhine Lands and Southern Germany, fugitives from the Thirty Years’ War. In 1636 they established a small community of their own.
In 1648, in the wake of the Chmielnicki massacres, Jews from Poland and Lithuania began arriving in Amsterdam, but didn’t find their place in the existing Ashkenazic community. For twelve years (1660-1672), they maintained a communal organization of their own, and later they joined the Ashkenazic community.
The Ashkenazi Jews who came from different localities had brought with them their particular local customs. Their strong attachment to these customs created tensions and quarrels in the synagogue, as a result of which the leaders of the community published in 1716 a Judeo-German treatise called Seder Hanhagot Beit Haknesset, laying down the synagogue customs which the members were to follow
In the introduction to the treatise the leaders stated that increasing disorder in the synagogue – some worshippers maintaining that a certain prayer should not be said and others saying it was customary to recite it, and fights over who should say Kaddish made them decide to publish a Seder Hanhagot Beit HaKnesset. Now everyone, both the simple and the learned, would know when a certain prayer was to be said and a particular Haftorah was to be read, and there would be no more arguing.
Only customs, about which opinions were divided, were mentioned in the treatise.
For a while peace was restored in the community, but from time to time there erupted new arguments regarding certain customs which impelled the leaders of the community to reprint Seder Hanhagot Beit HaKnesset in 1759 and again in 1776.
During the years the French ruled the Netherlands (1795-1813) some modernists in the community wanted to change certain customs, and in some measure succeeded in doing so. Thus the leaders of the community endeavored, soon after the French rule to publish a new edition of Seder Hanhagot Beit Haknesset, It appeared in Hebrew in 1815.
During the 18th century the Jewish community was the scene of conflicts between the Orthodox and those who wanted to introduce changes in the synagogue service. As the latter held important positions in the community and were supported by the non-Jewish authorities, the rabbis reluctantly agreed to change some synagogue customs which in their opinion they were permitted to do.
In 1901 the community published a new, enlarged edition of Seder Hanhagot Beit HaKnesset, this time in Dutch. It was prepared by Rabbi Joseph Hirsch Duenner, Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam and was used by the community until its destruction by the Germans during World War II.
In addition to Seder Hanhagot Beit HaKnesset, the community published treatises about its communal regulations. Most of these regulations concerned the technical administration of the community, but they also included matters which were related to Jewish customs. Treatises of regulations were published in 1711 and in 1737. Some were also printed at various times on single sheets or in little booklets.
In 1985, the “Nederlands Israelietisch Seiminarium” which sponsored Minhagei Amsterdam, asked the late Alexander Veder, an old member of the Amsterdam community to record what he remembered of the community’s pre-World War II customs. Mr. Veder went over the 1901 edition of Seder Hanhagot Beit HaKnesset, made many additions, and noted which of the customs mentioned there were not always observed or not observed by everyone. Death prevented him from completing his work. After his death, his additions and notes were reviewed and commented upon by Rabbi Aharon Schuster, former Rabbi of Amsterdam, and Mr. Yaakov Presser, a former leader of the community. These writings were made available by the “Nederlands Israelietische Seminarium” to Rabbi Yehuda Brilleman, the compiler and editor of Minhagei Amsterdam.
To be continued
The Jewish Press, Friday, January 25, 2002
(Conclusion)
The customs of the Ashkenazim of Amsterdam are chiefly those of the old communities of the Rhine lands, Mayence, Worms and others. In certain instances the Jews of Amsterdam preserved the Minhag in its original form, whereas in other Ashkenazi communities it underwent changes.
Rabbi Yehuda Brilleman cites as an example the custom of waiting between the eating of meat and dairy dishes. The early authorities speak of two different customs: to wait between the eating of meat and dairy dishes six hours or to wait only one hour. The latter custom is mentioned by the Maharil as” The general Minhag.” Rabbi Moshe Isserles (Rema) says that it is the general customs “in these lands,” meaning Poland.
With the passage of time the Jews of Eastern Europe accepted the custom of waiting six hours. The Jews of German origin chose a middle course — waiting three or four hours. The Jews of only one country, Holland stuck to the original custom of waiting just one hour.
Here is another example. The Ashkenazim of Holland name children for living relatives (Ashkenazim generally do not name children for living persons, only for people who have died). Some believe that the Ashkenazim of Holland have been influenced in this respect by their neighbors the Sefardim of Amsterdam.
Rabbi Brilleman doesn’t share this view. He quotes Sefer Hasidim which states: “In some places they do not give names after living persons, only after people who have died.” From this statement in Sefer Hasidim it is evident that in the time and country of the composition of the book, only a minority did not name a child after a living person. The general custom was to name children for living persons. In the course of time the custom of the minority spread among all Ashkenazim. The Askenazim of Holland were the only ones to continue calling children after living persons.
In the book before us the customs of the Ashkenazi community are arranged in six sections: 1) Customs which relate to weekdays 2) Customs of the Sabbath and of a Festival which falls on the Sabbath. 3) Customs related to certain days or periods of the year. This sections is subdivided into seven chapters:
A. Customs not tied to any particular month.
B. Customs of the month of Nissan.
C. Customs of the months of Iyyar, Sivan, Tammuz and Av.
D. Customs of Rosh Hashana.
E. Customs of Yom Kippur.
F. Customs of Sukkot.
G. Customs of the months of Heshva, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat and Adar.
The next section (4) is: Customs of weddings and circumcisions. It is followed by (5) the section of customs relating to Kaddish recital and mourning. The last section features customs of the Reading of the Torah.
The sections about the customs of the Amsterdam Ashkenazi community are followed by several appendices, which include, inter alia, customs of certain societies and families, some customs of Amsterdam’s Sefardim, and some customs of Holland’s Ashkenazim who reside outside Amsterdam.
The descriptions of the customs of the Ashkenazi community of Amsterdam are accompanied by two different types of notes. There are notes which indicate the sources from which the customs have been collected: Communal publications, such as Seder Hanhagot Beit HaKnesset, public announcements and others; books and newspaper articles which mention the customs of the Amsterdam Ashkenazim; Alexander Veder’s tract on the customs and Rabbi Aaron Schuster’s and Mr. Y. Presser’s comments on it (we mentioned them in our first article). In these notes mention is made of other individuals who provided the editor, Rabbi Yehuda Brilleman, with information about some of the customs of the Amsterdam community.
The second type of notes which accompany the descriptions of the customs offer explanations. They refer mainly to rabbinic literature and Minhagim books of other communities in which the customs are explained or discussed.
Let us mention here some of the customs described in the book before us:
“It is customary here that boys don a Tallit even before their Bar Mitzva. Boys who are past Bar Mitzva are not permitted to pray in the synagogue witout a Tallit during prayers at which a Tallit is worn.”
“At Kabbalat Shabbt, when saying the verse Bo’i Beshalom, one continues to face the Ark.”
One smells the Havdala candle after it is extinguished.” (The notes say that according to Rabbi Jacob Emden – in his Siddur – this was done to endear the Mitzva).
“During the month of Elul the Shofar is blown both at Shaharit and at Minha.”
Before World War II there were Orthodox Jews who didn’t say Tashlikh and there were others who did say it.”
The editor explains in his Notes: When the French occupied the Netherlands in 1795, any public manifestation of religion was prohibited in Amsterdam. In the wake of this prohibition the community’s leaders didn’t let Jews say Tashlikh in groups. They could say it only individually.T hough the prohibition was later rescinded, the custom of Tashlikh has, since then, been somewhat neglected by many members of the community
Last Shabbat was Shabbat Shira. Amsterdam’s Ashkenazim eat Kugel of wheat on that Sabbath.
In his Notes the editor quotes Noheg KaTzon Yosef by R. Joseph Kosman of Frankfurt, who points out that the letters of Beshallach stand for “Beshabbat Shira Le’ekhol Hittin.
(The custom of eating Kashe and feeding fowl and birds with Kashe on Shabbat Shira has recently been written about by Rabbi Yosef Levi in his Minhag Yisrael Torah, vol. 2 p. 124 and Rabbi Elyakum Dvorkes in his Bishevilei HaMinhag. See also the late Rabbi of Lubavitch’s Shaarei Halakha UMinhag, vol. 1. R. Yehiel Goldhaber writes about the Minhag in his forthcoming book on the customs of the Seven Kehillot of Burgenland. The above quoted interpretations of the letters of the word Beshallach is already found in Rabbi Ephraim Solomon’ Luntzchitz’s Olelot Efrayim.
The Jewish Press, Friday, February 1, 2002