it looks like across halacha ashkenazim end up on the stricter side and sephardim on the more lenient side, in basar b’chalav, in kitniyos, in cholov, in all kinds of places. why is that?
is there a real difference in how the shitos developed, like the rema’s glosses on the shulchan aruch pulling stricter, or is that just how it looks from a few famous cases?
and where are the biggest real differences today, the places where an ashkenazi and a sephardi standing in the same kitchen would actually pasken differently?
Thank you Rabbi, thank you very much.
I would push back on the premise a little. There is no general rule that “Ashkenazim are stricter and Sephardim are more lenient.” In some areas it looks that way, especially when people compare the Mechaber and Rema, but in plenty of important cases the reverse is true.
The Rema was not simply adding chumrot to the Shulchan Aruch. He was recording Ashkenazic rulings and minhagim. Sometimes those are stricter, sometimes more lenient. Sephardic practice was also often more influenced by Kabbalah, especially later practice, and that sometimes produced additional stringencies of its own.
In an actual kitchen, some of the clearest differences are these:
Kitniyot on Pesach: Ashkenazim generally prohibit them; most Sephardim do not.
Glass: Sephardim generally treat glass much more leniently regarding absorption, especially compared with Ashkenazic Pesach practice.
Bishul Akum: This is actually a major case where Sephardim are often stricter. According to the Shulchan Aruch, the Jew generally has to participate more directly in the cooking; the Rema allows the Jew merely lighting the fire in many cases.
Meat and sirchot: The Mechaber is stricter regarding certain lung adhesions, while the Rema permits cases that Sephardic tradition historically would not.
Chalav and other commercial-food questions: Here it depends much more on the particular posek and community than on a clean Sephardi/Ashkenazi divide.
So I would not describe the two systems as “strict” and “lenient.” They developed through different Rishonim, different communities, different minhagim, and later different Poskim.
Sometimes the Rema is stricter.
Sometimes the Mechaber is stricter.
Sometimes Kabbalah influenced Sephardic practice toward greater stringency.
And sometimes the famous difference has almost nothing to do with strictness and is simply two different legitimate halachic traditions.
The mistake is to turn “Ashkenazi” and “Sephardi” into personality types. They are halachic traditions, not a scale from strict to lenient.