Here's The Fascinating Origin Of Almost Every Jewish Last Name Bennett Muraskin<http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/01/08/ashkenazi_names_the_etymology_of_the_most_common_jewish_surnames.html>, Slate<http://www.slate.com/>
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<http://jewishcurrents.org/november-12-jews-acquire-family-names-12794>. 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. Read more: http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/01/08/ashkenazi_names_the_etymology_of_the_most_common_jewish_surnames.html#ixzz2pvsRmoNp Stephanie (Sara Leah) Gross MSLIS, MATESOL Chair, AJL Mentoring Member, AJL Librarianship and Education Committee Pollack Library Yeshiva University 500 West 185th Street New York NY 10033-3229 212.960.5442 Skype: Stephanie.l.gross http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanielgross http://yeshiva.academia.edu/StephanieGross "As we look ahead to the next century, leaders will be those who empower others." - Bill Gates.
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