Solomon Schechter

Solomon Schechter (1849-1915), Romanian-American scholar and religious leader, laid the foundation for the development of Conservative Judaism in the United States in his capacity as president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Solomon Schechter was born into a family of Hasidic background in Focsani, Romania, in December 1849. After a traditional education in Jewish schools in Romania and Poland, Schechter studied at the rabbinical seminary of Vienna and at the universities of Vienna and Berlin. In 1882 he settled in London as a tutor. In 1887 he married Matilda Roth. In 1890 he was appointed reader in rabbinics at Cambridge University. During the next twelve years he held several academic posts, including curator of Hebrew manuscripts in the Cambridge Library and professor of Hebrew at University College in London.

During this period, in addition to numerous journal articles on Jewish history and theology - later published in book form as Studies in Judaism (1896, 1908, 1924) and Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology (1909 - Schechter published critical editions of rabbinic texts: the Talmudic tractate Aboth de Rabbi Nathan (1887) and two Midrashic texts, one on the "Song of Songs" (1896) and one on Genesis (1902).

Schechter's most notable achievement, however, was bringing to England much of the archive of an ancient Cairo synagogue, including thousands of fragments of manuscripts and documents shedding light on a millennium of Jewish history. Schechter's scholarly work henceforth centered on this material. His chief works were The Wisdom of Ben Sira (with C. Taylor, 1899), portions of the Hebrew original of the Apocryphal Book of Ecclesiasticus; Saadyana (1903), new material on the 9th-century Jewish scholar Saadia Gaon; and Documents of Jewish Sectaries (1910), dealing with the 1st-century Zadokites and the Karaites, a medieval sect.

In 1902 Schechter assumed the presidency of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York and devoted the rest of his life to developing this institution and its constituency. In England, Schechter had been mainly a scholar; he now became the spiritual leader of Conservative Judaism and, to a certain extent, a leader of American Judaism. He advocated the concept of the unity and solidarity of Jews throughout the world. He viewed "the collective conscience of Catholic Israel as embodied in the Universal Synagogue … as the sole true guide for the present and future" development of Judaism.

In 1913, attempting to unify American Jewry, he established, and served as first president of, the United Synagogue of America, an organization of Conservative Jewish congregations in America. Viewing the rebirth of Jewish nationalism as embodied in the Zionist movement as integral to the revival of Judaism, he was active in American Zionism. His other contributions included service as chairman of the committee that prepared the new English translation of the Bible later published by the Jewish Publication Society of America; editor of the department of Talmud for several volumes of the Jewish Encyclopedia; and coeditor of the new series of the Jewish Quarterly Review. He died on Nov. 20, 1915.

Further Reading

A collection of papers from Schechter's American period is in his Seminary Addresses and Other Papers (1915; repr. 1969). The best study of Schechter is Norman Bentwich, Solomon Schechter (1938).

(1847-1915). Rabbinic scholar and leader of Conservative Judaism who founded its basic institutions, setting the tone for its ideological development. Born in Rumania, Schechter studied at the Vienna rabbinical seminary and then at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin. After moving to England in 1882 he lectured in Talmud and Rabbinics at Cambridge University (1890-98) and subsequently taught at University College, London (1898-1901). His first major publication, a critical edition of the Avot De-Rabbi Natan (1887), remains a classic of modern rabbinic scholarship, but his international reputation was established by the discoveries he made in the Cairo Genizah (a depository for worn-out and damaged sacred books). Having recognized fragments brought to him from Cairo as part of the lost Hebrew version of the Book of Ecclesiasticus, Schechter traveled to Egypt in 1896 and eventually unearthed some 100,000 pages of medieval manuscripts which were transferred to Cambridge, thus opening up a vast treasure trove of ancient Jewish texts that revolutionized rabbinic scholarship.

From 1902, Schechter headed the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where he succeeded in attracting eminent scholars to join the teaching staff. He made the Seminary an internationally renowned bastion of Jewish learning with one of the world's greatest Judaica libraries. Schechter's vision gave the Seminary a twofold purpose: to create a rabbinical leadership for American Jewry and to operate as an institute for the modern study of Judaism. He was also responsible for establishing the United Synagogue of America (1913), which became the lay, congregational arm of the Conservative movement. Schechter originally hoped that the Seminary and the United Synagogue of America would cater to all traditionalist communities in the United States, accommodating the rabbinical leaders of moderate Orthodoxy as well as those of the "positive-historical" school. This dream was not realized, however, and Schechter's institution became identified exclusively with Conservative Judaism.

Apart from scholarly works of major importance, Schechter published numerous essays on Judaism, rabbinic theology, and issues of the day. A gifted English stylist, he emphasized the theological aspects of traditional Judaism and excelled as an interpreter of Jewish concepts for the layman. He often took a stand on controversial issues, notably by lending support to Zionism, a cause which the Seminary's anti-nationalist lay leadership opposed. Schechter believed that a reborn Jewish State would represent the fulfillment of Jewish religious aspirations and in no way contradicted Judaism's universal message. Here, as elsewhere, Schechter defended traditional Jewish values and concepts against the liberalizing, assimilationist tendencies of Reform Judaism. While conceding the Reform movement's positive aspects, he denounced its propensity to abandon the essentials of Jewish tradition, whether halakhic or doctrinal. Schechter nevertheless believed in the possibility of change within the framework of rabbinic tradition and felt that a developing halakhah would take into account the opinions voiced by masses of loyal Jews, to which he applied the designation "catholic Israel."

---

Schechter, Solomon (shĕkh'tər) , 1847–1915, Jewish scholar. Born in Romania, he was educated in Vienna and at the Univ. of Berlin. He went to England in 1882 and in 1890 he was made lecturer in Talmud at Cambridge; he became professor of Hebrew at University College, London, in 1899. In 1887 he published his critical edition of Avot According to Rabbi Nathan. In 1897 he traveled to Cairo and brought back to Cambridge some 100,000 manuscript fragments from the famous Cairo geniza. Among these, Schechter identified the hitherto missing Hebrew version of Ecclesiasticus. In 1902 he became president of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, which he developed into a center of learning and a spiritual home of the Conservative movement. He was also the founder of the United Synagogue of America, the association of Conservative congregations. Among his books are Studies in Judaism (1896; 2d series 1908; 3d series 1924) and Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology (1909).

Bibliography

See biography by N. de M. Bentwick (1938); M. Davis, The Emergence of Conservative Judaism (1963).

Quotes:

"By vulgarity I mean that vice of civilization which makes man ashamed of himself and his next of kin, and pretend to be somebody else."

"You cannot be anything if you want to be everything."

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)