Nusach Ashkenaz is a style of Jewish liturgy conducted by Ashkenazi Jews. It is primarily a way to order and include prayers, and differs from Nusach Sefard (as used by the Hasidim) and Baladi-rite prayer, and still more from the Sephardic rite proper, in the placement and presence of certain prayers. Subdivisions Nusach Ashkenaz may be subdivided into the German or Western branch - Minhag Ashkenaz - used in Western and Central Europe, and the Polish/Lithuanian or Eastern branch - Minhag Polin - used in Eastern Europe, the United States and by some Israeli Ashkenazim, particularly those who identify as Litvaks ("Lithuanian"). In strictness, the term Minhag Ashkenaz applied only to the usages of German Jews south and west of the Elbe, most notably the community of Frankfurt. North-Eastern German communities such as Hamburg regarded themselves as following Minhag Polin, although 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. There are a number of minor differences between the Israeli and American Ashkenazi practice in that the Israel follows some practices of the Vilna Gaon (see ) as well as some Sephardic practices. For example, the practice of most Ashkenazic communities in Israel to recite Ein Keloheinu during the week, as is the Sephardic practice. The ritual of the United Kingdom - Minhag Anglia - is based on those of both Germany and Poland Hamburg; see Authorised Daily Prayer Book. "Minhag Anglia" does also have wider connotations re the structure, and hashkafa, of English-Judaism more generally; see United Synagogue, London Beth Din, Jews College. History Leopold Zunz claimed that the Ashkenazi rite is descended from the ancient Palestinian minhag, while the Sephardi rite is descended from Babylonia. Hakham Moses Gaster, in his introduction to the prayer book of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, made exactly the opposite claim. To put the matter into perspective it must be emphasized that all Jewish liturgies in use in the world today are in substance Babylonian, with a small number of usages from the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael) surviving the process of standardization: in a list of differences preserved from the time of the Geonim, most of the usages recorded as from Eretz Yisrael are now obsolete. Medieval Ashkenazi scholars stated that the Ashkenazi rite is largely derived from the Siddur Rab Amram and minor