Re: Ngayin

[I. Oppenheim <i.oppenheim...>]

On Thu, 7 Mar 2002, Olve Utne wrote:

> But it is actually also a typical trait of Dutch
> Ashkenazi pronunciation, stemming from the situation
> back in the early 17th Century, when the Ashkenazim
> in Holland were still too few to maintain their own
> synagogues. They were allowed to have 'aliyot in the
> Sephardic synagogues, but only under the condition
> that they would make the proper distinction between
> alef and 'ayin...

This is very interesting information. Do you have a
written source for this?

> some Litvak Ashkenazim make a distinction between
> alef and 'ayin. Anyone know anything about that?

Indeed, does anyone know anything about this?

> Another Sephardic influence on the Dutch Ashkenazim
> is apparently that many of the sifre Tora used by
> Dutch Ashkenazim are actually Sephardic, or at least:
> so I've heard... :-)

I can indeed confirm that many of our Sifrei Torah are
written in Sephardi handwriting. Apparently the
Sephardi handwriting is less labour intensive and
therefore cheaper than the Ashkenazi variant.

Irwin Oppenheim
www.xs4all.nl/~danio/irwin/music/   "Chazzanut Online"


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