I'm yekkish AMA | Imamother

amother

Valerian

Fri, Oct 08 2021, 10:25 am

amother [ Black ] wrote:

What are parsha cards?

They are nicely designed cards with the name on the parsha on them.
I think they were a fundraiser or something.
We keep them near our candlesticks.

Chayalle

Fri, Oct 08 2021, 10:32 am

amother [ Aubergine ] wrote:

Einen wunderschönen guten Abend
Baum Kuchen ja, Labskaus nein. Labskaus is specifically from the north of Germany .
Ooooh!! Stollen!! Love it! I make it around Chanuka time. It really actually IS a traditional x-mas treat. I don’t care, we eat it anyway
Our German is great because we are from Switzerland, so German and Schwiizerdütsch are our mother tongues.

My father grew up in Vienna, and he hates Schwiizerdutsch. (no offense intended) Says it's totally not like "reinna deutsch".

amother

Slateblue

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 3:52 pm

I davened in my regular Yekkish Shul today so I have a few questions.
Do other yekkish Shuls have a Chazzan or do Baalei Batim daven?
If women and men daven in Shul on Shabbos, what kind of Mechitza is there. In our Shul there are 2 floors women upstairs and men downstairs.
How often does the Rov give a Dvar Torah?
Do men put their Taleisim over their heads throughout the service? In my Shul men do put Taleisim over their heads and this is something that disturbed my late father (a real Yekke) enormously. He said years ago this practise was not the minhag and he could not get used to this.

amother

Oxfordblue

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 4:12 pm

Ha-ha, it's not meant to be. Swiss-German is a secret dialect that only Swiss can speak and they are very proud of the fact that practically no non-Swiss can figure it out.

amother

White

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 10:16 pm

amother [ Powderblue ] wrote:

What tune do you use on shmini atzeres - that is the only one we don’t do right bec no one remembers.

The one here: http://www.kolang.org/en/teach/2604
We use the Rosenblatt shir hamaalos for regular Shabbos.

For those of you who think we are crazy, here is the academic version: https://www.jewish-music.huji......22133

amother

White

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 10:17 pm

amother [ Brown ] wrote:

Do you know what yaares kaddish is?

Jahre Kaddish Laugh

Like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PMRV8IuRXA

amother

Forsythia

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 10:47 pm

amother [ Slateblue ] wrote:

Do men put their Taleisim over their heads throughout the service? In my Shul men do put Taleisim over their heads and this is something that disturbed my late father (a real Yekke) enormously. He said years ago this practise was not the minhag and he could not get used to this.

My understanding is that a man is only "properly" dressed with his hat on, but you don't wear a Tallis over a hat, so yekkes (yes, originally derogatory, but the intent is lost now) would wear a hat and Tallis.

amother

Forsythia

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 10:51 pm

amother [ Valerian ] wrote:

I just want to say how much I love that special highlight on Simchas Torah - where the chazan and two chashuva chaverim sing "Avraham samach, b'simchas Torah... bo yavo tzemach, b'simchas Torah"

A beautiful sight to see... I miss it!

I also miss it so much. I decided to sing it (at the very least) at our seudah, and my husband actually let me, lol. He didn't grow up with a yekkish shul like I did, so he can't relate, but at least I was able to get it in to some degree.

amother

Forsythia

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 10:54 pm

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

I miss Simchas Torah from my youth 😢

How many of you say "וכל המינים כרגע יאבדו" instead of "וכל הרשעה כרגע תאבד"?
I'm married to a Litvak and still daven with the nusach I grew up with sometimes without thinking.

When we were engaged, I asked my chosson if he minded if I "kept" my nusach hatefillah, and he was fine with it as long as I wouldn't be insisting on using it with our children.

amother

Forsythia

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 11:00 pm

gold21 wrote:

The parsha cards is a yekke thing? No way. Ha. I didn't know the shir hamaalos tunes were a yekke thing either, but a previous poster mentioned it. I'm so clueless lol. I just assume that everyone does these things.

I once ate as a guest in someone's house, and they asked me to pick a number from 1-100, and then proceeded to sing Shir Hamaalos. They were cracking up, because apparently that's their way of pretending to choose a tune, when in reality they only use 1 tune. I replied that while we don't "number" them, we easily could have 100 tunes in my house LOL

amother

Forsythia

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 11:08 pm

Re: wimple

A family in our community does have the minhag, but was also acutely aware that "mainstream" shuls get frustrated by them because of the hassle of tying them. So they had theirs modified with maybe Velcro or clips or something so it could be used like a "normal" one... I thought that was a brilliant compromise.

gold21

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 11:09 pm

To the poster who asked about the Shir Hamaalos for shemini atzeres, a lot of people sing it to the same tune that was referenced upthread "agil v'esmach b'simchas Torah, Torah eitz chaim, kulo chaim, ki hi mekor chaim...."

That tune is from shul, if you know it

That's the Shir Hamaalos that everyone I can think of uses for shemini atzeres

Hope that helps

Also, some people sing it to a diff tune, the time to a tefillah for Geshem, but I don't know that tune

gold21

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 11:15 pm

amother [ Forsythia ] wrote:

So interesting

The shul that we gave our wimpels to, was happy to have them, but I know someone brought his son's wimpel in a diff shul that doesn't use wimpels, so after the event he took his home and hung it up in his house!

I thought that was a nice idea

gold21

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 11:18 pm

For parsha cards- they've been around as far back as I can recall

Some people do weekly photos with them on erev shabbos for family albums

amother

Valerian

Sat, Oct 09 2021, 11:26 pm

gold21 wrote:

For parsha cards- they've been around as far back as I can recall

Some people do weekly photos with them on erev shabbos for family albums

Yes was just asking my husband and he corrected me - they are not new.

gold21

Sun, Oct 10 2021, 12:14 am

amother [ Brown ] wrote:

Do you wash netilas yadayim before kiddush on Friday night?

Do you (as a mother) bentsch the children Fri night?

Do you daven in a yekkishe shul/ minyan?

Do you do kapparos erev YK?

Do you know what yaares kaddish is?

Wait, don't all moms bench their kids on Fri night? Is this a yekke only thing?

amother

Azalea

Sun, Oct 10 2021, 12:46 am

Why are you so proud of being German descent? I don’t see what there is to be proud of after the Holocaust. Why is it considered good to behave with German manners such as being on time. I’ve always wondered this but would never ask someone in real life. I really just don’t get it at all.

gold21

Sun, Oct 10 2021, 1:35 am

amother [ Azalea ] wrote:

I don't have German manners and I'm not usually on time. Feel free to ask any other questions. Yeah, I'm not a fan of German culture, not at all. Not since the Holocaust.

As for minhagim, you want me to dump mine? I don't get it. I mean.... Why? Did you dump yours?

Last edited by gold21 on Sun, Oct 10 2021, 1:39 am; edited 1 time in total