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SCHECHTER Origin of surname

SCHECHTER

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from an occupation, profession or trade (also connected with raw material, finished product or implements associated with that trade). It is also derived from Jewish communal functionaries or titles.

Schechter is one of the German translations of Sho(c)het, the Hebrew term for "ritual slaughterer" or "butcher". Jews in the Diaspora often transformed or translated Hebrew titles and expressions into vernacular sounding names.This enabled them both to maintain their tradition, as well as to become part of their host society. Other related family names include Fleischhauer, Fleischhacker, Fleischer, Metzger and Schla(e)chter. The French equivalent is Boucher. Boucherot, a variant of Boucher, is documented as a Jewish family name in the 13th century with Abraham Boucherot of Paris (France). Fleischhacker is recorded in 1672 in Prague (Bohemia), and Boucher in 1739 in Metz (north eastern France). Flajszakier, a Polish spelling of the German Fleischhacker, was changed to Flasaquier in Paris (France) in 1951.

Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Schechter include the Romanian-born American Hebrew scholar, Solomon Schechter (1847-1915).

Scholar

Born in Vijnita, he worked as a librarian in Switzerland and moved to the U.S. in 1922. From 1924 he taught at the Hebrew Theological College in Chicago and later served as rabbi in Houston, Texas, and Providence, Rhode Island. Schechter published books on Jewish liturgy.

Solomon Schechter (1847-1915), scholar and Conservative leader, born in Focsani, Romania. He studied in Vienna and Berlin and acquired a wide mastery of rabbinic Judaism. In 1882 he went to England where in 1890 he was appointed lecturer in rabbinical theology at Cambridge University. While in Cambridge, Schechter heard of some ancient Hebrew fragments discovered in Egypt and traveled to Cairo, tracking down their origin to a storeroom of a synagogue where manuscripts had been stacked away for a thousand years - the Cairo Geniza. He brought back 100,000 pages to Cambridge to study and published some of its gems including the original Hebrew text of the Book of Ecclesiasticus. In 1902 Schechter moved to New York to head the Jewish Theological Seminary and while there he molded the theology and organizational structure of the Conservative Movement, making the seminary into a key institution and founding the United Synagogue of America.

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SCHECHTER Origin of surname
SCHECHTER

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from an occupation, profession or trade (also connected with raw material, finished product or implements associated with that trade). It is also derived from Jewish communal functionaries or titles.

Schechter is one of the German translations of Sho(c)het, the Hebrew term for "ritual slaughterer" or "butcher". Jews in the Diaspora often transformed or translated Hebrew titles and expressions into vernacular sounding names.This enabled them both to maintain their tradition, as well as to become part of their host society. Other related family names include Fleischhauer, Fleischhacker, Fleischer, Metzger and Schla(e)chter. The French equivalent is Boucher. Boucherot, a variant of Boucher, is documented as a Jewish family name in the 13th century with Abraham Boucherot of Paris (France). Fleischhacker is recorded in 1672 in Prague (Bohemia), and Boucher in 1739 in Metz (north eastern France). Flajszakier, a Polish spelling of the German Fleischhacker, was changed to Flasaquier in Paris (France) in 1951.

Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Schechter include the Romanian-born American Hebrew scholar, Solomon Schechter (1847-1915).
Written by researchers of ANU Museum of the Jewish People
Schechter, Abraham Israel
Scholar

Born in Vijnita, he worked as a librarian in Switzerland and moved to the U.S. in 1922. From 1924 he taught at the Hebrew Theological College in Chicago and later served as rabbi in Houston, Texas, and Providence, Rhode Island. Schechter published books on Jewish liturgy.
Solomon Schechter

Solomon Schechter (1847-1915), scholar and Conservative leader, born in Focsani, Romania. He studied in Vienna and Berlin and acquired a wide mastery of rabbinic Judaism. In 1882 he went to England where in 1890 he was appointed lecturer in rabbinical theology at Cambridge University. While in Cambridge, Schechter heard of some ancient Hebrew fragments discovered in Egypt and traveled to Cairo, tracking down their origin to a storeroom of a synagogue where manuscripts had been stacked away for a thousand years - the Cairo Geniza. He brought back 100,000 pages to Cambridge to study and published some of its gems including the original Hebrew text of the Book of Ecclesiasticus. In 1902 Schechter moved to New York to head the Jewish Theological Seminary and while there he molded the theology and organizational structure of the Conservative Movement, making the seminary into a key institution and founding the United Synagogue of America.