Thursday, January 9, 2014

Jewish Surnames Explained


Jewish Surnames Explained



Richard Andree's 1881 map of the Jews of Central Europe.
Ashkenazic Jews were among the last Europeans to take family names. Some German-speaking Jews took last names as early as the 17th century, but the overwhelming majority of Jews lived in Eastern Europe and did not take last names until compelled to do so. The process began in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1787 and ended in Czarist Russia in 1844.
In attempting to build modern nation-states, the authorities insisted that Jews take last names so that they could be taxed, drafted, and educated (in that order of importance). For centuries, Jewish communal leaders were responsible for collecting taxes from the Jewish population on behalf of the government, and in some cases were responsible for filling draft quotas. Education was traditionally an internal Jewish affair.
Until this period, Jewish names generally changed with every generation. For example, if Moses son of Mendel (Moyshe ben Mendel) married Sarah daughter of Rebecca (Sora bas Rifke), and they had a boy and named it Samuel (Shmuel), the child would be called Shmuel ben Moyshe. If they had a girl and named her Feygele, she would be called Feygele bas Sora.
Jews distrusted the authorities and resisted the new requirement. Although they were forced to take last names, at first they were used only for official purposes. Among themselves, they kept their traditional names. Over time, Jews accepted the new last names, which were essential as Jews sought to advance within the broader society and as the shtetles were transformed or Jews left them for big cities.
The easiest way for Jews to assume an official last name was to adapt the name they already had, making it permanent. This explains the use of "patronymics" and "matronymics."
PATRONYMICS (son of ...)
In Yiddish or German, "son" would be denoted by "son" or "sohn" or "er." In most Slavic languages, like Polish or Russian, it would be "wich" or "witz."
For example: The son of Mendel took the last name Mendelsohn; the son of Abraham became Abramson or Avromovitch; the son of Menashe became Manishewitz; the son of Itzhak became Itskowitz; the son of Berl took the name Berliner; the son of Kesl took the name Kessler, etc.
MATRONYMICS (daughter of …)
Reflecting the prominence of Jewish women in business, some families made last names out of women's first names: Chaiken — son of Chaikeh; Edelman — husband of Edel; Gittelman — husband of Gitl; Glick or Gluck — may derive from Glickl, a popular woman's name as in the famous "Glickl of Hameln," whose memoirs, written around 1690, are an early example of Yiddish literature.
Gold/Goldman/Gulden may derived from Golda; Malkov from Malke; Perlman — husband of Perl; Rivken — may derive from Rivke; Soronsohn—son of Sarah.
PLACE NAMES
The next most common source of Jewish last names is probably places. Jews used the town or region where they lived, or where their families came from, as their last name. As a result, the Germanic origins of most East European Jews is reflected in their names.
For example, Asch is an acronym for the towns of Aisenshtadt or Altshul or Amshterdam. Other place-based Jewish names include: Auerbach/Orbach; Bacharach; Berger (generic for townsman); Berg(man), meaning from a hilly place; Bayer — from Bavaria; Bamberger; Berliner, Berlinsky — from Berlin; Bloch (foreigner); Brandeis; Breslau; Brodsky; Brody; Danziger; Deutch/Deutscher — German; Dorf(man), meaning villager; Eisenberg; Epstein; Florsheim; Frankel — from the Franconia region of Germany; Frankfurter; Ginsberg; Gordon — from Grodno, Lithuania or from the Russian word gorodin, for townsman; Greenberg; Halperin—from Helbronn, Germany; Hammerstein; Heller — from Halle, Germany; Hollander — not from Holland, but from a town in Lithuania settled by the Dutch; Horowitz, Hurwich, Gurevitch — from Horovice in Bohemia; Koenigsberg; Krakauer — from Cracow, Poland; Landau; Lipsky — from Leipzig, Germany; Litwak — from Lithuania; Minsky — from Minsk, Belarus; Mintz—from Mainz, Germany; Oppenheimer; Ostreicher — from Austria; Pinsky — from Pinsk, Belarus; Posner — from Posen, Germany; Prager — from Prague; Rappoport — from Porto, Italy; Rothenberg — from the town of the red fortress in Germany; Shapiro — from Speyer, Germany; Schlesinger — from Silesia, Germany; Steinberg; Unger — from Hungary; Vilner — from Vilna, Poland/Lithuania; Wallach—from Bloch, derived from the Polish word for foreigner; Warshauer/Warshavsky — from Warsaw; Wiener — from Vienna; Weinberg.
OCCUPATIONAL NAMES
Craftsmen/Workers
Ackerman — plowman; Baker/Boker — baker; Blecher — tinsmith; Fleisher/Fleishman/Katzoff/Metger — butcher; Cooperman — coppersmith; Drucker — printer; Einstein — mason; Farber — painter/dyer; Feinstein — jeweler; Fisher — fisherman; Forman — driver/teamster; Garber/Gerber — tanner; Glazer/Glass/Sklar — glazier; Goldstein — goldsmith; Graber — engraver; Kastner — cabinetmaker; Kunstler — artist; Kramer — storekeeper; Miller — miller; Nagler — nailmaker; Plotnick — carpenter; Sandler/Shuster — shoemaker; Schmidt/Kovalsky — blacksmith; Shnitzer — carver; Silverstein — jeweler; Spielman — player (musician?); Stein/Steiner/Stone — jeweler; Wasserman — water carrier.
Merchants
Garfinkel/Garfunkel — diamond dealer; Holzman/Holtz/Waldman — timber dealer; Kaufman — merchant; Rokeach — spice merchant; Salzman — salt merchant; Seid/Seidman—silk merchant; Tabachnik — snuff seller; Tuchman — cloth merchant; Wachsman — wax dealer; Wechsler/Halphan — money changer; Wollman — wool merchant; Zucker/Zuckerman — sugar merchant.
Related to tailoring
Kravitz/Portnoy/Schneider/Snyder — tailor; Nadelman/Nudelman — also tailor, but from "needle"; Sher/Sherman — also tailor, but from "scissors" or "shears"; Presser/Pressman — clothing presser; Futterman/Kirshner/Kushner/Peltz — furrier; Weber — weaver.
Medical
Aptheker — druggist; Feldsher — surgeon; Bader/Teller — barber.
Related to liquor trade
Bronfman/Brand/Brandler/Brenner — distiller; Braverman/Meltzer — brewer; Kabakoff/Krieger/Vigoda — tavern keeper; Geffen — wine merchant; Wine/Weinglass — wine merchant; Weiner — wine maker.
Religious/Communal
Altshul/Althshuler — associated with the old synagogue in Prague; Cantor/Kazan/Singer/Spivack — cantor or song leader in shul; Feder/Federman/Schreiber — scribe; Haver — from haver (court official); Klausner — rabbi for small congregation; Klopman — calls people to morning prayers by knocking on their window shutters; Lehrer/Malamud/Malmud — teacher; Rabin — rabbi (Rabinowitz—son of rabbi); London — scholar, from the Hebrew lamden (misunderstood by immigration inspectors); Reznick — ritual slaughterer; Richter — judge; Sandek — godfather; Schechter/Schachter/Shuchter etc. — ritual slaughterer from Hebrew schochet; Shofer/Sofer/Schaeffer — scribe; Shulman/Skolnick — sexton; Spector — inspector or supervisor of schools.
PERSONAL TRAITS
Alter/Alterman — old; Dreyfus—three legged, perhaps referring to someone who walked with a cane; Erlich — honest; Frum — devout ; Gottleib — God lover, perhaps referring to someone very devout; Geller/Gelber — yellow, perhaps referring to someone with blond hair; Gross/Grossman — big; Gruber — coarse or vulgar; Feifer/Pfeifer — whistler; Fried/Friedman—happy; Hoch/Hochman/Langer/Langerman — tall; Klein/Kleinman — small; Koenig — king, perhaps someone who was chosen as a “Purim King,” in reality a poor wretch; Krauss — curly, as in curly hair; Kurtz/Kurtzman — short; Reich/Reichman — rich; Reisser — giant; Roth/Rothman — red head; Roth/Rothbard — red beard; Shein/Schoen/Schoenman — pretty, handsome; Schwartz/Shwartzman/Charney — black hair or dark complexion; Scharf/Scharfman — sharp, i.e  intelligent; Stark — strong, from the Yiddish shtark ; Springer — lively person, from the Yiddish springen for jump.
INSULTING NAMES
These were sometimes foisted on Jews who discarded them as soon as possible, but a few may remain:
Billig — cheap; Gans — goose; Indyk — turkey; Grob — rough/crude; Kalb — cow.
ANIMAL NAMES
It is common among all peoples to take last names from the animal kingdom. Baer/Berman/Beerman/Berkowitz/Beronson — bear; Adler — eagle (may derive from reference to an eagle in Psalm 103:5); Einhorn — unicorn; Falk/Sokol/Sokolovksy — falcon; Fink — finch; Fuchs/Liss — fox; Gelfand/Helfand — camel (technically means elephant but was used for camel too); Hecht—pike; Hirschhorn — deer antlers; Karp — carp; Loeb — lion; Ochs— ox; Strauss — ostrich (or bouquet of flowers); Wachtel — quail.
HEBREW NAMES
Some Jews either held on to or adopted traditional Jewish names from the Bible and Talmud. The big two are Cohen (Cohn, Kohn, Kahan, Kahn, Kaplan) and Levi (Levy, Levine, Levinsky, Levitan, Levenson, Levitt, Lewin, Lewinsky, Lewinson). Others include: Aaron — Aronson, Aronoff; Asher; Benjamin; David — Davis, Davies; Ephraim — Fishl; Emanuel — Mendel; Isaac — Isaacs, Isaacson/Eisner; Jacob — Jacobs, Jacobson, Jacoby; Judah — Idelsohn, Udell,Yudelson; Mayer/Meyer; Menachem — Mann, Mendel; Reuben — Rubin; Samuel — Samuels, Zangwill; Simon — Schimmel; Solomon — Zalman.
HEBREW ACRONYMS
Names based on Hebrew acronyms include: Baron — bar aron (son of Aaron); Beck — bene kedoshim (descendant of martyrs); Getz — gabbai tsedek (righteous synagogue official); Katz — kohen tsedek (righteous priest); Metz — moreh tsedek (teacher of righteousness); Sachs, Saks — zera kodesh shemo (his name descends from martyrs); Segal — se gan levia (second-rank Levite).
OTHER HEBREW- and YIDDISH-DERIVED NAMES
Lieb means "lion" in Yiddish. It is the root of many Ashkenazic last names, including Liebowitz, Lefkowitz, Lebush, and Leon. It is the Yiddish translation of the Hebrew word for lion — aryeh. The lion was the symbol of the tribe of Judah.
Hirsch means "deer" or "stag" in Yiddish. It is the root of many Ashkenazic last names, including Hirschfeld, Hirschbein/Hershkowitz (son of Hirsch), Hertz/Herzl, Cerf, Hart, and Hartman. It is the Yiddish translation of the Hebrew word for gazelle: tsvi. The gazelle was the symbol of the tribe of Naphtali.
Taub means "dove" in Yiddish. It is the root of the Ashkenazic last name Tauber. The symbol of the dove is associated with the prophet Jonah.
Wolf is the root of the Ashkenazic last names Wolfson, Wouk, and Volkovich. The wolf was the symbol of the tribe of Benjamin.
Eckstein — Yiddish for cornerstone, derived from Psalm 118:22.
Good(man) — Yiddish translation of the Hebrew word for "good": tuviah.
Margolin — Hebrew for "pearl."
INVENTED ‘FANCY SHMANCY’ NAMES
When Jews in the Austro-Hungarian Empire were required to assume last names, some chose the nicest ones they could think of and may have been charged a registration fee by the authorities. According to the YIVO Encyclopedia, "The resulting names often are associated with nature and beauty. It is very plausible that the choices were influenced by the general romantic tendencies of German culture at that time." These names include: Applebaum — apple tree; Birnbaum — pear tree; Buchsbaum — box tree; Kestenbaum — chestnut tree; Kirschenbaum — cherry tree; Mandelbaum — almond tree; Nussbaum — nut tree; Tannenbaum — fir tree; Teitelbaum — palm tree.
Other names, chosen or purchased, were combinations with these roots: Blumen (flower), Fein (fine), Gold, Green, Lowen (lion), Rosen (rose), Schoen/Schein (pretty) — combined with berg (hill or mountain), thal (valley), bloom (flower), zweig (wreath), blatt (leaf), vald or wald (woods), feld (field).
Miscellaneous other names included Diamond; Glick/Gluck — luck; Hoffman — hopeful; Fried/Friedman — happiness; Lieber/Lieberman — lover.
Jewish family names from non-Jewish languages included: Sender/Saunders — from Alexander; Kagan — descended from the Khazars, a Turkic-speaking people from Central Asia; Kelman/Kalman — from the Greek name Kalonymous, the Greek translation of the Hebrew shem tov (good name), popular among Jews in medieval France and Italy; Marcus/Marx — from Latin, referring to the pagan god Mars.

Finally, there may have been Jewish names changed or shortened by immigration inspectors (though this is disputed) or by immigrants themselves (or their descendants) to sound more American, which is why "Sean Ferguson" was a Jew.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Top 10 non-Jews positively influencing the Jewish future in 2013


Top 10 non-Jews positively influencing the Jewish future in 2013

Since publishing my first annual list of non-Jews who have wielded
 significant positive influence over the Jewish future, it seems that the popularity of the practice of list-making has ballooned. It is my sincere hope, however, that this list merits special attention, both in the Jewish world and beyond, as the individuals who are featured herein are truly worthy of recognition.

A great deal has changed over the last year, and a number of
 previously unheard of personalities have emerged as great friends of
the Jewish people, while others have become less active. For this
 reason, I am committed to compiling and developing this list as a regular endeavor, and as such I present the 4th annual lineup.
My candidates have been selected from around the world and include
 representatives of a number of different ethnic groups. The list includes political, religious, and business leaders among others, all of whom have had a significant, constructive impact on Israel and/or the global Jewish community.
Although by no means an exact science, my aim in this compilation is
 to provide some insight into the playing field of this unique group.
Additionally, I aim to bring recognition to their often courageous,
 sometimes unacknowledged, activities on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people.


10. Father Gabriel Naddaf
Hailing from the village of Yaffia, situated between Migdal Ha'emek
 and Nazareth, Naddaf is an Eastern Orthodox priest who has become a leader in the drive for Christian enlistment in the Israel Defense Forces.
Naddaf has undertaken this effort at great personal risk and has been
 subject to threats. Nevertheless, the movement has seen success, as Christian enlistment in the IDF tripled in 2013.
Describing him as "The Good Father" in a recent profile piece, the Jerusalem Post said that "Father Gabriel Naddaf has reached the conclusion that Christian Arabs residing in Israel must link their fortunes to the Jewish state."
"Our goal is to guard the Holy Land and the State of Israel. We have
 broken the barrier of fear - the state deserves that we do our part in defending it," he said, in a meeting earlier this year with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who recognized his efforts.

9. John Chambers
Cisco CEO Chambers has jumped headfirst into the Israeli market. A
 regular visitor to the country, Israel became a strategic powerhouse for his company when it acquired NDS for $5 billion last year.  Six months after promising "You'll see us expand here soon," Cisco acquired Israeli company Intucell for $475 million.  Ahead of a recent visit, he said, "Israel is a global leader in innovation, and Cisco is proud of its longstanding commitment to the country."
Chambers has even tried his hand at peace-making, and was featured in
 a July Forbes magazine cover story entitled "Peace Through Profits" advocating enhanced business co-operation between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs.
Strong statements of belief in Israel's economic prowess from a global CEO like Chambers are vital for securing Israel's continued fiscal resilience.

8. Li Ka-shing
Thought to be the richest person in Asia, Li has an estimated net
 worth of $28.8 billion. Last month his foundation announced a $130 million donation to Israel's Technion University to build an academy as a joint venture with China's Shantou University.
Technion President Peretz Lavie described the partnership as "a major
 breakthrough and an opportunity to strengthen ties between Israel and China."
According to the Jerusalem Post, the grant includes profits from the foundation's 2011 investment in Israeli mobile app Waze.

7. Petr Neãas.
A week after the United Nations voted to upgrade the Palestinian
 Authority's status last year, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu flew to the Czech Republic to thank Neãas, its Prime Minister at the time, for being the only country in Europe to vote against the move.
"Thank you for your country's opposition to the one-sided resolution at the United Nations; thank you for your friendship;thank you for your courage," Netanyahu told Neãas.
Israel has "no better friends in Europe than the Czech Republic,"
 Netanyahu said during a visit to the country in 2012.
"We strictly refuse delegitimization and any boycott of the state of Israel. We unequivocally support Israel's right to defend against terrorist attacks," Necas said at the time.
Neãas is the most recent in a long line of Czech leaders committed to
 the Jewish state.

6. Manmohan Singh
Trade and diplomatic relations between Israel and India have been on
 the fast track since the start of Singh's premiership, and the two countries "are emerging as a mature, dependable, and accommodating couple," according to a Middle East Forum paper.  In a recent visit to India to discuss a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries, Israel's Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said that the bilateral trade (between India and Israel) "could easily be doubled in the next five years."
Currently, Israel is India's second largest supplier of military
 equipment, and India is the second-largest Asian economic partner of Israel. Trade between the two countries now stands at $5 billion, excluding defense contracts.

5. Angela Merkel
Recently re-elected with a powerful majority as Germany's Chancellor,
 Merkel has been an outspoken supporter of Israel and has been vigilant in ensuring the security of Germany's Jewish community.  Merkel offered strong support for circumcision shortly after a local district court ban on the practice. "I do not want Germany to be the only country in the world where Jews cannot practice their rituals. Otherwise we will become a laughing stock," she was quoted as saying.
In August, Merkel became the first German leader to visit the Dachau
 concentration camp.  In her weekly podcast at the time, Merkel warned that Europeans must remain vigilant against Holocaust deniers and right-wing extremists. "We must never allow such ideas to have a place in our democratic Europe," she said, adding that her trip to Dachau would be with "feelings of shame and dismay".
Earlier this year, Germany delivered its fifth Dolphin-class nuclear
 capable submarine to Israel, showing its commitment to the Jewish state's security needs.

4. Rupert Murdoch
The titles owned by Murdoch's News Corporation have, for the most
 part, covered stories relating to Jews and Israel in a balanced and fair manner, and Murdoch himself has described himself as an ardent philo-Semite.  Murdoch has been recognized by a number of major Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage .
"To my mind, that is the grand promise of Zionism: that Israel exists
 so that Jews can protect themselves," he said last year, concluding, "I believe that it is no longer just Israel's survival at                                                           stake but our own."

3. Stephen Harper

As Prime Minister of Canada, Harper ensured that his country, along
 with the Czech Republic, would be among the few that opposed the Palestinian Authority's unilateral UN move last year.
At a recent meeting in New York, Harper said that "There is nothing more short sighted in Western capitals in our time than                                                           the softening support for Israel," according to a Wall Street Journal report. Israel, he said, “Is the one strong stable democratic western ally that we have in" the Middle East.
Recent reports revealed that the Canadian arm of the Jewish National
 Fund is raising funds to build a bird center in Israel named for the leader.  "Under the direction of Prime Minister Harper, Canada is now a leader in the international fight against anti-Semitism and raising awareness of the heinous crimes of the Holocaust," the organization wrote.

2. Pope Francis I
Just seven months into the job, the new Pope has shown a warmth
 towards Jews and Judaism that is unparalleled.
"It's a contradiction that a Christian is anti-Semitic: His roots are Jewish," the Pontiff told an audience of Jewish leaders last week. Last month, in an open letter appearing in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica he praised the Jewish people for having "kept their faith in God" despite centuries of persecution.
Francis I has already scheduled a trip to Israel, and hosted his close
 friend, Argentinian Rabbi Abraham Skorka, at his residence over Sukkot. "He cares for me, and controls everything regarding my food to make sure it is all kosher, and according to my religious tradition, "the rabbi said of his friend the Pope.

1. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
A controversial figure to say the least, since El-Sisi , the commander
 of Egypt's army, rose to power, co-operation between the country's military and Israeli security forces in combating Sinai and Gaza based terror groups has been unprecedented.
"The Egyptian Army has done great things in the past two months, more
 than they had done in the past two decades," an Israeli official told The Algemeiner last week, and a recent Wall Street Journal report detailed the extent of that co-operation.
According to reports, the Egyptian military has shut down up to 90% of smuggling tunnels running from the Sinai into the Hamas controlled Gaza strip, effectively cutting off a crucial supply route for weapons used by the terror group against Israel.
While under the leadership of his predecessor, the MuslimBrotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, the cornerstone peace treaty between
Israel and Egypt appeared to be under constant question, for now,
 El-Sisi's rule has brought back Israeli confidence in its relationship with its southern neighbor.