Editing Solomon Schechter

{{Short description|Moldavian-born rabbi and scholar (1847–1915)}}
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{{Infobox Jewish leader
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| name             = Solomon Schechter
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| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1847|12|7}}
| birth_place      = [[Focșani]], [[Principality of Moldavia]]
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1915|11|19|1847|12|7}}
| death_place      = New York City, US
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| nationality      = Moldavian (until 1859)<br>Romanian (after 1881)<br>British<br>American
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| alma_mater       = [[University of Cambridge]] <br>[[University of Vienna]],<br>[[Humboldt University of Berlin]]
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'''Solomon Schechter''' ({{langx|he|שניאור זלמן הכהן שכטר}}&lrm;; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a [[Moldavia]]n-born British-American [[rabbi]], academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the [[United Synagogue of America]], President of the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]], and architect of American [[Conservative Judaism]]. He is an important figure in [[Jewish studies]] and [[Jewish history]], particularly his study of the [[Cairo Geniza]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-11-20 |title=Solomon Schechter (1847-1915): a Jewish polymath with a gift for friendship {{!}} University of Cambridge |url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/solomon-schechter-1847-1915-a-jewish-polymath-with-a-gift-for-friendship |access-date=2025-05-07 |website=www.cam.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thulin |first=Mirjam |date=2017-08-10 |title=Wissenschaft and correspondence: Solomon Schechter between Europe and America |url=https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/jhs/article/id/7/ |journal=Jewish Historical Studies: A Journal of English-Speaking Jewry |language= |volume=48 |issue=1 |doi=10.14324/111.444.jhs.2016v48.028 |issn=2397-1290}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dunkelgrün |first=Theodor |date=2016-12-01 |title=Solomon Schechter: a Jewish scholar in Victorian England (1882–1902) |url=https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/jhs/article/id/485/ |journal=Jewish Historical Studies: A Journal of English-Speaking Jewry |language= |volume=48 |issue=1 |doi=10.14324/111.444.jhs.2016v48.021 |issn=2397-1290}}</ref>

==Early life==
He was born in [[Focşani]], [[Moldavia]] (now Romania), to Rabbi Yitzchok Hakohen, a [[shochet]] ("ritual slaughterer") and member of [[Chabad]] [[hasidim]]. He was named after its founder, [[Shneur Zalman of Liadi]]. Schechter received his early education from his father. Reportedly, he learned to read [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] by age 3, and by 5 mastered [[Chumash (Judaism)|Chumash]]. He went to a [[yeshiva]] in [[Piatra Neamț]] at age 10 and at age thirteen studied with one of the major [[Talmud]]ic scholars, Rabbi [[Joseph Saul Nathanson]] of [[Lviv|Lemberg]].<ref>[http://home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/crc35.htm Librarian's Lobby October 2000 Heroes of learning<!-- bot-generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165823/http://home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/crc35.htm |date=3 March 2016 }} at home.earthlink.net</ref> In his 20s, he went to the Rabbinical College in [[Vienna]], where he studied under the more modern Talmudic scholar [[Meir Friedmann]], before moving on in 1879 to undertake further studies at the ''[[Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums|Berlin Hochschule]] für die [[Wissenschaft des Judentums]]'' and at the [[University of Berlin]]. In 1882, he was invited to Britain, to be tutor of [[rabbinics]] under [[Claude Montefiore]] in London.

==Academic career==
In 1890, after the death of [[Solomon Marcus Schiller-Szinessy]], he was appointed to the faculty at [[Cambridge University]], serving as a lecturer in Talmudics and reader in Rabbinics.<ref>{{acad|id= SCCR892S|name=Schechter, Salomon}}</ref> The students of the Cambridge University Jewish Society hold an annual Solomon Schechter Memorial Lecture.

[[File:Solomon Schechter studying the fragments of the Cairo Genizah, c. 1898.jpg|thumb|Solomon Schechter at work in Cambridge University Library, studying the fragments of the [[Cairo Geniza]], {{Circa|1898}}]]

His greatest academic fame came from his excavation in 1896 of the papers of the [[Cairo Geniza]], an extraordinary collection of over 100,000 pages (around 300,000 documents) of rare Hebrew religious manuscripts and medieval Jewish texts that were preserved at an Egyptian synagogue. The find revolutionized the study of Medieval Judaism.

[[Jacob Saphir]] was the first Jewish researcher to recognize the significance of the Cairo Geniza, as well as the first to publicize the existence of the [[Midrash ha-Gadol]]. Schechter was alerted to the existence of the Geniza's papers in May 1896 by two Scottish sisters, [[Agnes and Margaret Smith]] (also known as Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson), who showed him some leaves from the Geniza that contained the Hebrew text of [[Wisdom of Sirach|Sirach]], which had for centuries only been known in Greek and Latin translation.<ref>Soskice, Janet (2010) ''Sisters of Sinai''.  London: Vintage, 239–40</ref> Letters, written at Schechter's prompting, by Agnes Smith to ''[[Athenaeum (British magazine)|The Athenaeum]]'' and ''[[The Academy (periodical)|The Academy]]'' quickly revealed the existence of another nine leaves of the same manuscript in the possession of [[Archibald Sayce]] at University of Oxford.<ref name= Soskice2010>{{cite book| last= Soskice| first= Janet | year= 2010 | title= Sisters of Sinai | place= London | publisher= Vintage| pages= 241–2}}</ref> Schechter quickly found support for another expedition to the Cairo Geniza, and arrived there in December 1896 with an introduction from the Chief Rabbi, [[Hermann Adler]], to the Chief Rabbi of Cairo, Aaron Raphael Ben Shim'on.<ref>Soskice, Janet (2010) ''Sisters of Sinai''.  London: Vintage, 246</ref> He carefully selected for the [[Cambridge University Library]] a trove three times the size of any other collection: this is now part of the [[Charles Taylor (Hebraist)|Taylor-Schechter Collection]].  The find was instrumental in Schechter resolving a dispute with [[David Samuel Margoliouth|David Margoliouth]] as to the likely Hebrew language origins of [[Sirach]].<ref>Soskice, Janet (2010) ''Sisters of Sinai''.  London: Vintage, 240–41</ref>

Charles Taylor took a great interest in Solomon Schechter's work in Cairo, and the ''[[genizah]]'' fragments presented to the University of Cambridge are known as the Taylor-Schechter Collection.<ref>{{Cite web | website= lib.cam.ac.uk|url= http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/Collection.html |title=Taylor-Schechter: a Priceless Collection |access-date=20 August 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090707012158/http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/Collection.html |archive-date=7 July 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was joint editor with Schechter of ''The Wisdom of Ben Sira'', 1899. He published separately ''Cairo Genizah Palimpsests'', 1900.

He became a Professor of Hebrew at [[University College London]] in 1899 and remained until 1902 when he moved to the [[United States]] and was replaced by [[Israel Abrahams]].

==American Jewish community==
In 1902, traditional Jews reacting against the progress of the American [[Reform Judaism]] movement, which was trying to establish an authoritative "synod" of American rabbis, recruited Schechter to become President of the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]] (JTSA).

Schechter served as the second President of the JTSA, from 1902 to 1915, during which time he founded the United Synagogue of America, later renamed as the [[United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism]].

==Death==
He died in 1915, and  was buried at [[Mount Hebron Cemetery (New York City)|Mount Hebron Cemetery]] in [[Flushing, Queens]].
<ref>{{cite news|title=Dr. Schechter Dead; Noted As A Scholar – President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America Stricken While Lecturing – His Career Ended at 67 – A Foremost Theologian of His Race and Famous for His Discoveries in Hebrew Literature.|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/11/20/104657228.html?pageNumber=13 |accessdate=18 April 2016|newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=November 20, 1915|page=15}}</ref>

==Religious and cultural beliefs==
Schechter emphasized the centrality of [[Halakha|Jewish law]] (''Halakha'') in Jewish life in his inaugural address as president of JTS in 1902:

{{blockquote|Judaism is not a religion which does not oppose itself to anything in particular. Judaism is opposed to any number of things and says distinctly "thou shalt not." It permeates the whole of your life.  It demands control over all of your actions, and interferes even with your menu. It sanctifies the seasons, and regulates your history, both in the past and in the future. Above all, it teaches that disobedience is the strength of sin. It insists upon the observance of both the spirit and of the letter; spirit without letter belongs to the species known to the mystics as "nude souls" (''nishmatim artilain''), wandering about in the universe without balance and without consistency...In a word, Judaism is absolutely incompatible with the abandonment of the [[Torah]].}}

Schechter, on the other hand, believed in what he termed "Catholic Israel." The basic idea being that ''Halakha'' is formed and evolves based on the behavior of the Jewish people. The concept of modifying the law based on national consensus is an untraditional viewpoint.{{According to whom|date=May 2025}}

Schechter was an early advocate of [[Zionism]]. He was the chairman of the committee that edited the [[Jewish Publication Society of America Version]] of the [[Hebrew Bible]].

==Legacy==
[[File:Hermann_Struck_Grafik_JMBerlin_GDR_98_1_19.jpg|thumb|The late Solomon Schechter (1912/1913), etching by [[Hermann Struck]]]]
Schechter's name is synonymous with the findings of the Cairo Geniza. He placed the JTSA on an institutional footing strong enough to endure for over a century. He became identified as the foremost personality of Conservative Judaism and is regarded as its founder. A network of [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] [[Jewish day school]]s is named in his honor, as well as a summer camp in Olympia, Washington. There are several dozen [[Solomon Schechter Day School Association|Solomon Schechter Day Schools]] across the United States and Canada.

His daughter Ruth was married to the South African Jewish politician [[Morris Alexander]] from 1907 to 1935.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Abrahams |first=Israel |author-link=Israel Abrahams |editor-last=De Kock |editor-first=W. J. |encyclopedia=Dictionary of South African Biography |title=Alexander, Morris |language=en |edition=1st |date=1968 |volume=1 |oclc=85921202 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofsout0000unse_p0x9/page/10/mode/2up |page=11}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* Schechter, Solomon (1896) ''Studies in Judaism''. 3 vols. London: A. & C. Black, 1896-1924 (Ser. III published by The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia PA)
* Schechter, Solomon (1909) ''Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology'' London: A. and C. Black (Reissued by Schocken Books, New York, 1961; again by Jewish Lights, Woodstock, Vt., 1993: including the original preface of 1909 & the introduction by [[Louis Finkelstein]]; new introduction by Neil Gilman [i.e. Gillman])

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Cohen |first=Michael R. |title=The Birth of Conservative Judaism: Solomon Schechter's Disciples and the Creation of an American Religious Movement |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-231-52677-7 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Fine |first=David J. |year=1997 |title=Solomon Schechter and the Ambivalence of Jewish Wissenschaft |journal=Judaism |volume=46 |issue=181 |pages=3–24 |issn=0022-5762 }}
*{{cite book |last=Gillman |first=Neil |title=Conservative Judaism: the New Century |location=West Orange |publisher=Behrman House |year=1993 |isbn=0-87441-547-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/conservativejuda0000gill }}
*{{cite book |last=Hoffman |first=Adina |last2=Cole |first2=Peter |year=2011 |title=Sacred Trash: the lost and found world of the Cairo Geniza |location=New York |publisher=Schocken |isbn=978-0-8052-4258-4 }}
*{{cite book |last=Starr |first=David |year=2003 |title=Catholic Israel: Solomon Schechter, Unity and Fragmentation in Modern Jewish History |publisher=PhD Dissertation, Columbia University }}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20011119074234/http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/reading/bookexc/gillman_conservativej/chap3/part7.shtml Solomon Schechter, from Neil Gillman's book on Conservative Judaism]
* [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Schechter.html Biography at the Jewish Virtual Library]
* [[Louis Jacobs]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20071209213436/http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history_community/Modern/ModernReligionCulture/MoreEmergence/Conservative_/Schecter.htm From Cairo to Catholic Israel: Solomon Schechter], in ''The Jewish Religion: a Companion'', OUP, 1995
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202225/http://www.jtsa.edu/prebuilt/archives/jtsarchives/arc101.shtml Solomon Schechter Collection at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America]
* [http://www.ssdsboston.org Solomon Schechter School of Greater Boston]
* [http://manchester.ac.uk/library/genizah AHRC Rylands Cairo Genizah Project]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* [http://sssq.org/ Solomon Schechter School of Queens]
* [http://www.schechterwestchester.org Solomon Schechter School of Westchester] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504221407/https://www.schechterwestchester.org/ |date=4 May 2019 }}
{{See also|Schechter}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schechter, Solomon}}
[[Category:1847 births]]
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