Litvish

Litvish Jews are Ashkenazi Orthodox Jews who have their origins in Northern Lithuania and in White Russia, and who follow non-Hasidic customs.

Etymology of term

The word "Litvish" probably originated from Lithuanian/Latvian [[Yiddish]]. The four main Yiddish dialects in Europe were: German (or Western), Polish/Galician (or Central/Mid-Eastern), Litvish (or North-Eastern), and Ukrainian (or South-Eastern). Litvish was spoken by Jews in Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus, and in the northeastern Sulwaki region of Poland .

Customs and heritage

The Litvish observances owe greatly to Elijah ben Solomon Kramer, the Vilna Gaon. His style of Torah study sparked off the Lithuanian-style form of learning still practiced is most yeshivas. The yeshiva movement itself is a typical Lithuanian development, initiated by Kramer's main disciple, Rabbi Chayim Volozhin.

Litvish and mitnagdish are used almost interchangeably. The Mitnagedim were the early opponents to Hasidic Judaism, led again by the Vilna Gaon (who sharply denounced some inventions and deviations in observance by the Hasidim).