Watch or Read Meir Soloveichik and Joseph Dweck Discuss the Worlds and Moods of Ashkenaz and Sepharad

The Jewish world is dynamic and diverse, and prayers, ceremonies, foods, and other traditions often diverge radically between different Jewish groups. In his feature essay this month, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik explores how these differences influence him, when, as a Jew of Ashkenazi descent, he was charged with overseeing High High Holy Day prayers at the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue where he serves as rabbi, which maintained traditions radically different from those with which he grew up.

In a live conversation on September 26, Soloveichik and Joseph Dweck, the senior rabbi of London’s Spanish and Portuguese synagogue, spoke with Mosaic’s editor Jonathan Silver about the divergences in Jewish traditions—Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Yemenite, Mizrahi, and others—and why they matter. They examined how each tradition provides a unique lens through which to view Judaism, and how the relationship between these traditions is changing. Subscribers can watch a recording or read a transcript of the discussion below.

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