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Does anyone know the origin of how the Sephardi name of Dweck came to be associated with a family of Kohanim?
The first person to use that name happened to be Kohein? There are many names out there that are “synonynous” with kehuna that aren’t Cohen or some version thereof. The most famous one I can think of is Rapaport (sp?) though not ALL Rapaports are kohanim, it is a famously associated with kehuna. (I don’t know why – does anyone here know?)
Frumguy, I dont know if we are related or what, but about 1 hour ago I saw your first post. I right away tried to log on to post the exact two names that you listed. I just received my logon info and noticed your second post. Those are the 2 that I am familiar with also.
I have heard 2 different origins for the name Dweck (all Dwecks are related regardless of spelling, and that includes the French Doueck spelling and Spanish Duek). One, which makes sense because Arabs have it as well, is goldsmith. The other is that it comes from the same root as “duke” through Latin and it was a Spanish title.
In any case, whoever took it was a Cohen; the name has nothing to do with kehuna (and Solomon notwithstanding, nothing to do with a similar unpleasant Yiddish word either).
Rapaport is an acronym for Rofe da Porto, and while there are Rapaports who have the name and are not Cohanim, the original Rav Meir Rofe da Porto was a Cohen. The non-Cohanim have it either from mothers (widows sometimes passed down family names due to bureaucratic error) or Ellis Island.
Kahn
Cohen
Kagen (as in the Chafetz Chaim. It is an Eastern European way of saying Kohain)
Kaplan (for Ashkenazim. In Turkish Kaplan means “tiger”)
Rapaport/Rapoport (One of the most distinguished of priestly families. The Gra was “podeh” himself by every Kohain he met until he met a member of the Rapaport family. Supposedly they have a shtar yichus [family tree with all the names] going back to Aharon)
Shapiro (some, not all. I heard it has to do with the grandson of the Maharal who was last named Katz. He married a Shapiro and took her name because she had no brothers. Anyone else hear of this?)
Kahane (Aramaic for Kohain)
Kahana (variation)
Maguri, yemenite family with Shtar Yichus.
Then again:
“I have heard that schlock, meaning junk, comes from schlag – to hit, as if the merchandise had been hit and bruised. However, the correct etymology stems from a Lower East Side peddler whose last name was Schlackman.
Schlackman specialized in buying damaged merchandise from other peddlers and selling it to greenhorns at full price. His competitor was a Syrian Jew by the name of Raphael “Fat Ralphie” Dweck, a true reprobate who accepted merchandise that even Schlackman would never touch, and who met his end at the hands of the Mafia during Prohibition (during that dry period, Dweck distilled arak from banana peels, dung, and wood; he sold it to a speakeasy whose owner died of its effects, so that the owner’s brother iced the esteemed distiller).
Other pushcart merchants, when stuck with bad merchandise, would scream out “Schlackman” or “Dweck” depending on just how bad it was, so that one or the other entrepreneur would come running, ill-gotten pennies in hand, to purchase the detritus at far below cost, only to sell it later to some unsuspecting mark at a price far above its true value.
Eventually, the -man was deleted from Schlackman, (the A was always pronounced as AH), and Dweck, a name often uttered in an incorrect fashion by Ashkenazi peddlers and Irish cops alike, became Dreck.”
(quoting a shtick post I made years ago on Usenet)
It’s not so clear. I know of two men (Ashkenazi) with the last name Cohen who are not Cohanim (they are Yisroelim). I know of a fellow whose last name is Levy and he is a Cohen. I also know of someone who has last name is Levy and he is a Yisroel.
As for Shapiro; my understanding is that it comes from Speyer; one of the original 3 cities along the Rhineland in Germany during the time of Rash”i and Tosafot. That might explain why there are Shapiros who are Cohanim and Yisroelim. (I haven’t met Leviim with that last name).
Among Moroccan Jews, you can be fairly certain that the last name Cohen is a Cohen and that Levy is Levy (personal experience). What I found interesting is that the last name Serfati/Sarfati/Serfaty, etc… is prominent (among Moroccans). Serfati means French (or Frenchmen) and in some sources was the last name adopted by Rabbenu Tam. Yet everyone I spoke with doesn’t seem to see any Yichus to Rabbenu Tam (and by extension to Rash”i).
Kaplan is Polish for priest. Kaploun is a variant.
Kogan is another variant of Kagan; it came about because of the lack of a hay sound in Russian. Sometimes it is followed by typical -ov and -sky type Russian endings.
Persian Cohanim are called Betaharon and Cohenzedek (Kohanzadegh) as well as Kohanian.
There are a couple of Bukharan Cohen families whose names have nothing to do with kehuna.
In Creedmoor, the Admou”r receives pidyon gelt for every baby born, bechor or otherwise, but his surname is Schmoigerman (Shoiteh, Menivel, veGas Ruach), hardly a sign of kehuna.
“As for Shapiro; my understanding is that it comes from Speyer; one of the original 3 cities along the Rhineland in Germany during the time of Rash”i and Tosafot. That might explain why there are Shapiros who are Cohanim and Yisroelim. (I haven’t met Leviim with that last name).”
I know a prominent Shapiro family and they say that the name does not come from Speyer but from the Aramaic Shufrayah (meaning beautiful). There are also Sephardic Shapiros so I would have to concur that it can’t be from Germany.
Sarfati/y is common among Tunisian Jews as well. There was a famous Tunisian-Jewish comedian whose main character was a Tunisian version of a Yiddishe Mamme combined with the Creedmoorer Rebbetzin, and she was called Mme (Mrs) Sarfaty.
So is Narboni, which seems to indicate an origin in Narbonne, France – no idea how it got to Tunisia or whether I am perhaps making a mistake with its origins. I will see what I can find about the historical origins of those surnames and whether there was a particular known migration of Jews directly from today’s France to North Africa (as those names would suggest) on motzash or Sunday when I have some time.
yes, Shapiro comes from Speyer. Horowitz (often a Levi) comes from Horovice in Bohemia or Moravia.
The Rapaports have a shtar going back to the shach who had, as a matter of common knowledge, a shtar all the way back to Ezra. There are several Yemeni families who still have shtaros back to Ezra’s time. This means they are descended from kohanim whose yuchsin were checked by Ezra himself.
Sarfati means “the frenchman.” When a Jew from france came to Tunisia, he would have been likely to be given that name. The Rambam was known as Moshe ibn Maimoun (ben Maimon to us) HaSefardi. The Ari got the name Ashkenazi from his father who moved to sefardic lands from Europe.
Hi Y.T. and Great Bear:
People emigrate, so it’s possible to have Shapiros and Narbonis that are Sephardim. There is also a variation called Shapira which is close to the Hebrew word Shafra (as Y.T. said). Shafra means beautiful (as Y.T. said) and is found in Tehillim, Chapter 16, Verse 7
Ari = ADONENU Rabbi Itzhak or ELOKI Rabbi Itzhak but certainly not Ashkenazi!!!!
However, the many Ashkenazi/Schinasi/Esquenazi families from the old Ottoman Empire are descendants of migrants from Europe. They have completely assumed local minhagim and are no different from their “Sefardi” neighbors.
There is definitely a conflation of Speyer and shefer/shufra etc to get to Shapiro/Shapira as opposed to Spiro/Spira (same Speyer origin).
What interests me is whether there was a mass emigration from France to No. Africa or whether it was France->Spain->forced migration to North Africa.
Great Bear: “Ari = ADONENU Rabbi Itzhak or ELOKI Rabbi Itzhak but certainly not Ashkenazi!!!!”
Disagree. I was alway taught that ARI stands for Ashkenazi Rav Yitzchak.
“People emigrate, so it’s possible to have Shapiros and Narbonis that are Sephardim. There is also a variation called Shapira which is close to the Hebrew word Shafra (as Y.T. said). Shafra means beautiful (as Y.T. said) and is found in Tehillim, Chapter 16, Verse 7”
Shapiro and Shapira are both spelled with an Aleph at the end as in Shufriah, not a Hey as in Shafra.
Ashkenazi for Ari is an old error. I don’t have time to post the hundreds of links that show this – please just do a Google search.
Shufra with hay – Hebrew cognate of Aramaic version with aleph at end.
Great Bear: (all Dwecks are related regardless of spelling, and that includes the French Doueck spelling and Spanish Duek)
Actually that’s not true. The name had very high status back in Syria, as chief rabbis and very important people were in the family. Others have copied the name for themselves to sound choshuv. I have heard that this is the case with Dweck-Chalutzies but I am not completely sure.
Aside for the Dwecks, there’s also the Tawil and Maslaton families.
All Tawil’s trace back to Eli HaKohen. The Maslaton’s also have a very choshuv yichus but I don’t remember it anymore.
Tawil means tall. Do you mean that only Tawils who are Cohanim go back to Eli? There must be some Tawils who are not Cohanim considering that Jews were probably taller and healthier than Arabs and many were called Tawil which then became a surname. Maslatons as in Ahi Ezer are Cohanim? This I did not know.
I do not doubt that names in every community got taken by other families. In my community, this was done to fool the not-too-bright KGB as well as to obtain Polish passports which facilitated escape from the old USSR.
Great Bear: Do you mean that only Tawils who are Cohanim go back to Eli? There must be some Tawils who are not Cohanim considering that Jews were probably taller and healthier than Arabs and many were called Tawil which then became a surname.
I never heard of a Tawil that isn’t a Cohen so I can assume that they all got their name from some tall ancestor.
I also believe that all Maslaton’s like the one from Ahi Ezer are Cohanim.
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