Minhag Polin/Minhag Lita is the Ashkenaziminhag of the Polish Jews. Nusach Ashkenaz may be subdivided into the German or Western branch, used in Western and Central Europe, and the Polish/Lithuanian or Eastern branch, used in Eastern Europe, the United States and by some Israeli Ashkenazim, particularly those who identify as "Lithuanian". There are a number of minor differences between the Israeli and American Ashkenazi practice, in that the Israeli practice follows some practices of the Vilna Gaon. The term "Minhag Ashkenaz", strictly applied, refers only to the minhag of German Jews south and west of the Elbe, such as the community of Frankfurt am Main. North-Eastern German communities such as Hamburg regarded themselves as following Minhag Polin, though their musical tradition and pronunciation of Hebrew, and some of the traditions about the prayers included, were more reminiscent of the western communities than of Poland proper. Jews in Germany were historically divided into the "Bayers" of Bavaria and southern Germany, who followed the Minhag Ashkenaz, and the "Polanders" in northern Germany who followed Minhag Polin. Minhag Polin was also the custom of some Jews in the Czech lands. Minhag Polin was introduced to the Moravian town of Kojetín in 1648. Due to the large diaspora of Polish and Eastern European Jews who left Europe for the Americas, Israel, and elsewhere, Minhag Polin is the most common minhag found among Jews worldwide. Minhag Polin derives from Minhag Rinus, an earlier Ashkenazi rite developed by Jews in the German Rhineland. When Ashkenazi Jews from the Rhineland began to migrate to Poland and Eastern Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they brought the Minhag Rinus with them. Over time, this minhag evolved into Minhag Polin. After the appearance of Hasidic Judaism in the 18th century and the popularization of Kabbalah in Eastern Europe, the Minhag Polin evolved further to incorporate kabbalistic elements.
