Take the 2-minute tour ×  Why is there a much bigger split
between Sefardim and Ashkenzim and not, say, between Sefardim
and people who lived in Bavel? The distance between Spain, and
say, Israel should have been big enough to make it hard to come
to a consensus among their poskim as to a common psak.
share|improve this question Please explain, as the premise of
your question, where you assume Ashkenazim to originate
geographically. –  WAF Jul 29 '11 at 15:38 Letś say
France/Germany. France to Spain is relatively close. Even
assuming that there were wars between the two (the reqonquista),
there should have been more communication between the two more
than Spain and far away countries like Bavel,Israel, Egypt, etc.
–  Shmuel Brin Jul 29 '11 at 16:16 It may also be helpful to
describe the ways in which Sefardim and Ashkenazim are
different, while Sefardim and Bavlim (?) are similar. –  Isaac
Moses Jul 29 '11 at 16:20 Jews is Bavel, Egypt, and Eretz Israel
generally paskin like the Rif, Rambam, and other "sfard