Italian Nusach
Italian Nusach, also known as Minhag Italiani, Minhag B'nei Romì, Minhag Lo'ez or Minhag HaLo'azim, is the ancient prayer rite of the indigenous Jews on the Italian peninsula who are not of Ashkenazi or Sephardic origin.
History
The Jewish presence on the Italian peninsula can be traced back to the 2nd century BCE and the Roman Jewish community was well-established already before the destruction of the Second Temple. Their prayer ritual developed into an independent nusach which cannot be grouped together with Ashkenazi or Sephardic rituals. No direct sources of the prayer rite of the Roman period have survived to the modern era.
The Italian nusach has been considered an offspring of the ancient Palestinian minhag and it has similarities with the nusach of the Romaniote Jews of Greece and the Balkans. However, the documents discovered in Cairo Geniza reveal that the influence of Minhag Eretz Israel on Benè Romì is less extensive that believed.[1]
The first significant development of Italian Judaism starts in the era of the latter Geonim. In his book Sefer ha-Qabbalah Raavad mentions the arrival of two Babylonian emissaries in Bari in the end of the 10th century, on a quest to gather funds for Torah schools in Babylon. With the emissaries the culture of the Geonim landed in Europe and started to spread across the communities. This explains also the strong influence of the Babylonian Talmud on the Italian nusach.
The Italian peninsula was touched by intense Jewish migrations. Jews expelled from the Iberian peninsula had a major impact on the coastal areas whereas the influence of the Ashkenazi world strengthened in the northern regions. Despite these two major dominators the Italian nusach practiced by single and insular communities managed to survive as an independent rite, until the present day.
The first Machzor
The machzor of Benè Romì was the first-ever printed machzor. Its first edition started in September 1485 in the Lombardian town of Soncino. It was completed towards the end of the same year in Casalmaggiore by the famous printers Benè Soncino.
Use today
The nusach is currently used by Jewish communities Ancona, Bologna, Mantua, Milan, Modena, Padua, Rome and Turin. Outside of Italy the only communities using this nusach are in Israel; in Netanya, at the Conegliano Synagogue in Jerusalem, and at another small minyan in Jerusalem.
Distinctive characteristics
Although the Italian nusach is mostly based on the Babylonian order, it contains more ancient customs originating from Eretz Israel than the other nus'chaot.
- The first berachah of Shabbat eve Maariv begins "...Ashèr killà ma'asàv ba'yom ha'shvi'i".
- The third berachah of Shabbat eve Maariv is "Emet ba'shvi'ì kiyamta"
- The middle benediction of the Amidah prayer of Shabbat eve says "U'meahavatach A. Eloheynu she'ahavta et Israel amach" instead of "Ata kidashta".
- The text of the 3rd berachah of the Amidah prayer is "Le'dor va'dor namelich la'E-l" even in the silent prayer. On the high holidays, this is replaces with "Le'dor va'dor nagid godlekha" (as said in the Chazzan's repetition all year in the Ashkenazic rite) in both the silent prayer and the repetition.
- On weekdays the Torah scroll returns to the Aron ha'Qodesh between Ashrei' and U'va le'Tziyon.
- Aleinu leshabeach is not said at the Mincha prayer.[2]
- Like Nusach Ashkenaz, the Kaddish prayer is recited without the words "ve-yatsmah purkane ve-yikarev meshihe".
- Like in the Yemenite Baladi-rite prayer, the Kaddish prayer is recited with the double le'eyla-le'eyla form all year round.
- On Shabbat an additional Nachameinu is recited as the 3rd blessing of Birkat ha'mazon, and the berakha ends menakhem tsiyon u-voneh Yeshushalayim.
- The Kol nidrei prayer on Yom Kippur eve is recited in Hebrew instead of Aramaic, "Kol nedarim".
- The Kedushah text includes the form "Keter" in all prayers, even on weekdays.
- The Italian nuachs has an individual set of haftaroth. There are sometimes the same as the Ashkenazic and/or the Sephardic selections, and sometimes completely different. Most notably, they have only one haftarah of tribulation before Tisha B'Av (Chazon) and only three haftarot of comfort following Tisha B'Av (as opposed to 3 and 7 respectively in other rites).
In modern times, many of these unique practices have been abandoned in some communities. For example, in Turin, they no longer recite the special birkhot keriat shema for Friday night. Similarly, the recitation of the "Keter" keduashah in all prayers is preserved only in the Jerusalem and Padua, while in other Italian communities it is recited only in Musaf and another form is recited at the other prayers.
References
- ^ D. Goldschmidt, Minhag Benè Roma
- ^ This is the practice of Italian Jews today even when reciting mincha earlier in the day, and it could be explained because there is Shema at mincha, and Aleinu contains the same theme as Shema. However, the 1485 machzor contains an instruction that on Erev Yom Kippur, Aleinu is recited. If so, it would seem that they usually recited Mincha and Arvit together, and they did not recite Aleinu in between since it is not the end of the service (this is the custom in some Ashkenazic communities). If so, it would seem that at some point, the matter got confused, so they ceased reciting Aleinu at Mincha even when not connected to Arvit.
External links
- Scan of the 1485 edition of the Italian Machzor from the website of the National Library of Israel
- Scan of the 1540 Kimha De-avishuna Machzor from the website of the National Library of Israel
- Machzor Shadal 1856 from the website of the National Library of Israel
- Siddur Bnei Romi
- Siddurim and Machzorim of the Italian synagogue in Jerusalem
- "Aspetti peculiari del minhàg italiano" by Rabbi Alberto Somekh
- The Italian-Jewish Liturgy
- The Italian Rite