I feel really awkward and know a lot of people might come at me with their pitchforks for asking a genuine question coming from the heart. Irrespective of knowing it might be delicate, I still have to ask. Apologies in advance if I offend anyone with this question as it is not my intention – I just wish to learn and understand what it means to be a Jew beyond our cultural peripheries.
Would you say universally accepted and practiced Jewish customs, especially from an orthodox lense, would actually come from an Ashkenazi angle? Are there interpretations of Torah or Halacha that are different between Jewish communities of different ‘cultures’? I know there are many Hebrew sages who are widely recognised and not Ashkenazi; but modern Jewish culture tends to be viewed from that lense.
I ask this through a personal touch. My ancestors were sephardic kabbalists and practiced certain ‘spiritual’ practices that were considered to be harmonious with Judaism at the time. Now where I live in Europe, many orthodox rabbis are quite black and white with the rules and say some of these practices are forbidden. I do not agree on this and do not view the Torah as forbidding it. It is generally considered forbidden but there are dissenting voices of several rabbis who agree with my position but it is not the dominant view anymore. Abraham Ibn Ezra is one of the most famous biblical scholars and he wrote an actual whole book about this spiritual practice that is now considered forbidden. I get this personal example is a little vague as I haven’t revealed what I am talking about, but I don’t wish to divert from the main question about Ashkenazi culture.
What are your thoughts?
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