The Politics of Pronunciation

Abstract

World Jewry is divisible into two major groups of tradition based on geographic and historical considerations: Eastern or Sephardi and Western or Ashkenazi. They differ in their rites of prayer, customs, and also in many points of Jewish law. Moreover, their pronunciation of Hebrew in the synagogue differs as well. This situation leads to a practical question: May one elect to change his pronunciation of Hebrew from one tradition to the other? More to the point, as we shall see, may one change from the Ashkenazi (Western) to the Sephardi (Eastern)? On the face of it, this is strictly a matter of halakhah (Jewish law). But we will argue that the number of responsa written in the last seventy years that address this question and the highly charged attitudes expressed or implied in them reveal much more than law alone. Responsa in general, we will claim, should be examined through the lenses of the social sciences because they stand at the convergence of sociology and halakhic decision making. In the particular question before us, accent has become a nodal point between religion, legal writing, and sociolinguistics.