Solomon Schechter, Rabbi and Scholar, was born in Rumania in 1847 and immigrated to England in 1882, where he was the Rabbinical tutor to Claude Monetfiore. He later came to the United States where, in 1902, he became President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
In his scholarly efforts, Solomon Schechter discovered a collection of 100,000 religious volumes and ancient prayer books that had been stored in the Cairo Genizah and preserved by the climate for hundreds of years. These became the basis for a series of studies in Jewish history, theology and literature. Through them, vast periods of Jewish history were reconstructed and newly understood.
Rabbi Schechter died in New York City in 1915, but not before he had written extensively on these and other studies clarifying Jewish attitudes towards the Torah, the “Kingdom of God”, traditions, learning and the selection of Israel as the homeland.
Rabbi Schechter believed that Judaism is not an organization that is based upon a hierarchical structure, but rather on an “inner unity” of the Jewish people. It is this unified Community of Israel that acts as a decisive force in shaping todays and the tomorrows of that community.
