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Comparing between Ashkenazic and Sephardic in Judaism
The world has a very big population and 14 million people are from the Jewish religion. Judaism has been in place from the time of Abraham (Rubenstein 54). The modern history of Jewish in many cases deals with the social, economic and political advancements. The 14 million Jews are further split into two separate groups. The Sephardic and Ashkenazic (Rubenstein 54). The origin of Ashkenazic can be traced be traced back to Germany, Eastern Europe and France while the origin of Sephardic can be traced back to the middle east, North Africa, Portugal and Spain (Rubenstein 54). Both Ashkenazi and Sephardic are Jews but they have some differences (Rubenstein 54). The differences between the two movements is found majorly in the traditional laws more than the written laws. The difference in these two groups is in terms of history, backgrounds and the traditions these groups used to celebrate (Rubenstein 54).
According to Eilberg (54) both the Sephardic and Ashkenazi have different histories because they have been around since the time of Abraham this even means that they have a lot of history (Rubenstein 54). Ashkenazic, Yiddish can be defined as a mixture of German and Hebrew. Ashkenazi Judaism can be dated back to the 10th century and still exists up to date (Rubenstein 54). Most Jews were merchants in Germany and France and later stayed there (Rubenstein 54). These Jews started forming some small communities in most Christian cities and at some point several Jews became craftsmen (Rubenstein 54). The Jews were driven out of France towards the end of the twelfth century after unfair treatment they received from Philip Augustus the French ruler (Rubenstein 54). The Jews were being massacred and there were also several riots so at around the 14th century several Jews from Germany relocated to Poland. Later in the 19th century several Jews of Ashkenazic group relocated to North America and started a new life there. This is the time reforms started in this group. Forty years after the reforms Conservative Judaism came into place. Conservative Judaism was formed by the same Ashkenazic group. After the Second World War several Ashkenazic Jews moved to Palestine which has remained to be their present day home though nowadays known as Israel (Rubenstein 54). The history of Sephardic is also a long one (Rubenstein 54). The descendants of Sephardic left Portugal to Spain in the late 15th century. They are believed to have left Spain for Portugal to seek religious freedom. After some several years the given that the King Manuel wanted to marry a Spanish monarch daughter forced the Jews to either leave or convert (Rubenstein 54). This is the condition that the king was given. So as a result of the king`s order eight Jews left and the rest converted to Christianity (Rubenstein 54). The Sephardic were later believed to be staying in Brazil, Denmark and in the east coast of America and also in some different French colonies (Rubenstein 54). At around the 19th century some good number of Sephardic settled some North African countries and morocco. Several of them later left Morocco due to an increased rate of crime and few job opportunities. Nowadays Morocco is considered to be the home of Arabs. The Sephardic are spread all over the world with most of them now staying in the present day Israel (Rubenstein 54).
Judaism main roles is to celebrate holidays. Even though both the Sephardic an Ashkenazic celebrate similar holidays the difference comes in on how these holidays are celebrated by the two communities (Eilberg-Schwartz 70). Both the Sephardic and Ashkenazic always have a belief that the holidays happened in the same way but they celebrate this holidays differently (Eilberg-Schwartz 70). There are different holidays including Purim, Pesach and the Rosh Hashanah have different ways of celebration by the two groups (Eilberg-Schwartz 70). In the Pesach holiday the Sephardic have a lot of foods to eat and it is allowed for them to take foods that contain kitniyot, examples of these foods are beans, corn, peanuts and rice while the Ashkenazic are always keeping away from these foods (Eilberg-Schwartz 70). Some other difference found in the Pesach celebration is the Seder plates. The Ashkenazic group do not include the chazaret while the Sephardic are always putting a full plate. Three different matzoth are separated in different ways between the two groups (Eilberg-Schwartz 70). The Ashkenazic group always have the dividers between each piece of matzah. This places them in their own section. The Sephardic group just places the three stacked up (Eilberg-Schwartz 70). One final difference found in the Pesach celebration is that Sephardic always use Kabbalistic denotations through thee Pesach celebration (Eilberg-Schwartz 70). The Ashkenazic also fully refrain from the usage of these ways. Another holiday that is celebrated differently in the two groups is the Purim holiday (Eilberg-Schwartz 70). The Ashkenazic during megillar in Purim they perform Shehecheyanu while the Sephardic does not perform it. The holiday of Rosh Hashanah is also celebrated in different ways by the two communities (Eilberg-Schwartz 70). The Ashkenazic group always throw bread in the river from their pockets during Tashlikh in Rosh Hashanah. The Sephardic group does not do this (Eilberg-Schwartz 70).
Both the Sephardic and the Ashkenazic have their differences in traditions but have one thing in common. The thing is that they are all Jewish traditions (Moore 79). The two communities have many different traditions. This is due to the fact that they have lived separately (Moore 79).. The different traditions between the Sephardic and the Ashkenazic communities is in the naming of their children, how they pray and the teffillin (Moore 79). The Sephardic group name their children after their relatives who had passed on and some of the alive relatives. The Sephardic group I very few circumstances name their children after themselves while the Ashkenazic group name their children after their dead relatives (Moore 79).. The Ashkenazic group always have a certain pattern of naming their children (Moore 79). The pattern is that the first born is always named after their paternal grandfather while the second male born is named after the maternal grandfather (Moore 79). The first born daughter is always named after the paternal grandfather and the second born daughter is named after the maternal grandmother. If the child baby is born they now move to the uncles and the aunts (Moore 79). The Teffillin is considered a very important wear in the Judaism this is because it has to be put on six times in a week (Moore 79). Both the Ashkenazic and the Sephardic put the teffillin on but the do it differently (Moore 79). The Sephardic group in many cases wrap the teffillin outward while the Ashkenazic in many occasions wrap the Teffillin inward (Moore 79). The Sephardic group wrap their teffillin their fathers do though they have many different ways of wrapping it. In several cases the Ashkenazic put on their Teffillin the same. In terms of prayers the two groups Ashkenazic and the Sephardic do it again differently (Moore 79). The two groups have different tunes and even different pronunciations of Hebrew when they are praying (Moore 79). An example can be shown in the pronunciation of tav having a dot in the middle (Moore 79). The Sephardic pronounce it as a T while the Ashkenazic pronounce it as an S. The Sephardic pronounce a word as Good Shabbat while the Ashkenazic pronounce it as Good Shabbas (Moore 79). When the two groups are reading from Torah, the Sephardic always stand up the Torah. The Ashkenazic place the Torah to lie flat while they are reading it (Moore 79).
The doctrine used by the Sephardic does not prohibit polygamy. In the Ashkenazic group has never allowed polygamy since the middle ages (Weber 5). The Ashkenazic traditions are little bit strict compared to the Sephardic traditions (Weber 5). A good number of the Ashkenazic community members stopped practicing some of their traditions some time back and became Atheists or secular Jews like the American freethinkers (Weber 5). A greater number of them have also decided to just follow part of the traditions. This kind of behavior is not common among the Sephardic community. The difference is brought about with the way the traditions were started or put into action. In the Ashkenazic community their traditions were installed by the long centuries of the enforced separation that they had at the time that the barriers were let down and the different communities were separated by the way started to integrate with them (Weber 5). They also integrated with those other societies bringing different changes in their traditions as those societies traditions integrated with theirs. The secular education available by then also replaced the religion rather than complementing it (Weber 5). The case was different with the Sephardic community because their traditions were brought up in a relaxed and a tolerant environment (Weber 5).
The Ashkenazi Jews were always restricted to the Europe ghettos that was at bay by the church of catholic (Wertheimer 875). The Sephardic community were mostly living as the people of the pact but they were not equal to the Muslims who were hosting them (Wertheimer 875). The Ashkenazic community has spread all over the word while the Sephardic community mostly concentrate in the Middle East community (Wertheimer 875). The Sephardic community were the first to arrive in the United States. In the present day Ashkenazic are the majority in the North America (Wertheimer 875). Several synagogues in America use Ashkenazic liturgy Wertheimer 875). The Synagogues of Sephardic always have the influence of the Islam architecture. In this they have different calligraphic and even floral decorative. Sometimes they may be aligned with the Ashkenazic religious denominations in many cases orthodox (Wertheimer 875). The Sephardic Synagogues are in several cases not strong than the ethnic identity (Wertheimer 875).
The two communities may be having the differences that they experience every day. The bottom line is that they are all Jews (Wertheimer 876). Though some of the differences in these two communities is brought about by the cultural divides and due to the increased marriages among the members and of different ethnic groups (Wertheimer 876). This ethnicity is still vital in the community of Israel. The two communities form the basis of the history of the Jewish community (Wertheimer 876).

Works cited
Eilberg-Schwartz, Howard. The savage in Judaism: An anthropology of Israelite religion and ancient Judaism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.
Moore, George Foot. Judaism in the first centuries of the Christian era: the age of the tannaim. Vol. 3. Harvard University Press, 1971.
Rubenstein, Richard L. After Auschwitz: Radical Theology and Contemporary Judaism. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1966.
Weber, Max. Ancient judaism. Simon and Schuster, 2010.
Wertheimer, Jack. A people divided: Judaism in contemporary America. New York: BasicBooks, 1993.