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Which Nusach to Teach?

Through the Partners in Torah program, I got a non-frum partner with whom I learn Torah with once a week over the phone (in my case we are learning Alef-Beis and soon will start reading from inside a siddur iy”H).
I am learning with a 26 year old girl. Her father is not Jewish, but it seems like her mother is. I have not asked her many details about her background, but as we are going to start learning how to Daven form a siddur, I told her that there are 2 nusach. She mentioned to me that her mother is Sefaradi.
She lives in a small community where I believe the most Orthodox is Lubavitch. I am not sure of what nusach to ask her to get, she told me her mother is Sefaradi, but she has been surrounded mostly by Ashkenazim. She davens with more of an Ashkenaz avara, and might even need to get a nusach Ari. I personally daven nusach Ashkenaz, so I thought that she should get the same so we could learn it together, and she might attend such shuls more often than not, but maybe she has to follow her mother’s nusach? or from the shul she attends?
What should I recommend her to do?
I hope the question is somewhat clear…
Thank you very much!

Answer:

You should learn with her whichever nusach will help her to feel comfortable in a Shul environment.

If she has Ashkenaz Shuls near her, or if it will be most likely that these are the Shuls she will be davening in, then this is the best nusach to study with her. The same will be true if the Shuls around her are Sefard (Ari). For this matter, the questions of her “family custom” are secondary (because she doesn’t really have any family custom), and the main question is which nusach will help her to feel comfortable in Shul.

Best wishes.

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