sentences:  One consequence of this was that, before the foundation of the State of Israel and in the early years of the State, it was the predominant rite used by Ashkenazim in the Holy Land, with the exception of certain pockets of traditional Lithuanian Jews.One reason for this was that "Eretz Yisrael" was regarded as part of the Sephardic world, so that it was felt that new immigrants should adapt to the local rite.In recent decades, following the immigration of many Ashkenazi Jews from America, the traditional millennia-old Ashkenazi rite has regained a strong following.