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Spira (name)

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Spira, Spiro, Shapira, Shapiro, and other spelling variations (שפירא in Hebrew), are Ashkenazi Jewish family names derived from Speyer, a city in Germany, south of Mannheim on the Rhine river.

The name of the Roman settlement Speyer in the original Latin was Spira (whence spiral) meaning "helmet straps" or "coiled snake." In Yiddish, the name was pronounced Shpeira. Over time and with various regional linguistic influences (Polish, Hungarian, Czech, etc), variations such as Szpiro and Schapira emerged.

Spellings

Alternate spellings include:

  • Shapira, Schapira, Szapira
  • Sapira, Sapiro, Sapir, Saperia
  • Shapiro, Schapiro, Szapiro
  • Spira, Spiro, Shpeira, Szpeiro
  • Speier, Speyer, Shpire, Spire

The various spellings are sometimes used interchangeably in genealogical records, due to the nearly identical Hebrew spelling, שפירא.

History and etymology

According to rabbinic tradition, the Jewish community of Speyer originated in the time of the Roman Empire, and earliest Rhenish records go as far back as 1084, when the Bishop of Speyer invited Jews to settle there with the offer of special protections[1]. Although Speyer (along with nearby Worms and Mainz), was one of the most important centers of trade and scholarship for Ashkenazi Jews since their arrival to that region in the 900s and through the Middle Ages, it was also a place where the Jews experienced severe, non-stop persecution from their non-Jewish neighbors and local rulers. Starting with the infamous massacre of 1096 during the First Crusade, and throughout much of the 12th - 15th centuries, the Jews of Speyer were variously murdered, tortured, forcibly baptized, kidnapped for ransom or expelled, with only intermittent periods of protection from regional authorities and clergy. After a long series of expulsions and massacres, particularly during the period of 1349 - 1435 (in the wake of the Plague), the community had completely dissolved. There was a brief renewal of the Speyer Jewish Community in the late 19th century, but virtually all members of the community were deported to concentration camps in 1940 by the Nazis. Since the name derives from an area, not all Shapiros are related.

Those Jews who took on the name Spira, Shapira, etc. were most probably among the survivors of the earlier persecutions (ie, prior to the 14th or 15th centuries). These Jews settled across Eastern Europe, including Bavaria, Bohemia, Galicia, and Poland. In central Europe, the name Spiro ("of Spire") appears in records as early as the 1500s.

Alternative etymologies

שפירא ("good" or "pretty")

Another meaning to the name is from the Aramaic word שפירא ("good" or "pretty"), which is the same in modern-day Chaldean, and is pronounced shapiro, wherein it has the same meaning as the Yiddish-based names Fine, or Fein and the Hebrew-based Yoffe, Jaffe (יופה). Thus, the family name is a play on the name of the town, or the Hebrew word. It is contended by some scholars that the Jews of Speyer took the surname as a memorial to their origin, which they fled in 1096 after many were massacred by Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem.

Sapphire

There is another, more arcane etymology, which claims that "Speyer" is derived from the Old High German word for "Sapphire" or "star stone", referring not to the gem but to the lapis lazuli (in Hebrew םפיר, pronounced "sapir"). By this interpretation, it is alleged that a group of Jews from the tribe of Issachar, who are represented in Jewish tradition by the lapis, migrated to the area later named Speyer along with Roman legions, and remained after the legions withdrew. This allegation is buttressed by the fact that the Jewish Quarter (ghetto) of Speyer is in an area of the town that would indicate an early settlement. Therefore, by this theory, it is the town which was named after the tribe, and not vice-versa. This would also explain the connection between the name "Shapiro" and the name "Saperstein". The connection with שפיר is explained as a linguistic association of the stone with beauty. None of this latter theory has been verified beyond longstanding discussion in the Talmud and other parabiblical sources dating from the period before the Roman decimation of the Jewish state circa 70 C.E.

Famous rabbis

A number of prominent Hassidic rabbis had the family name Spira or Shapira.

One of the most famous of these was Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Spira of Dinov (1783-1841), author of B'nei Yissaschar, founder of both the Bluzhov and Munkacz Hasidic dynasties which continue until today after 6+ generations. Two of his notable descendants include:

  • ..his grandson, Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Spira of Bluzhov (1841-1924), the famed Bluzhover Rebbe who was also called the Tzvi Latzaddik.
  • ..on a separate family branch, his great-great grandson, Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapiro (actually spelled "Shapira") of Munkacz (1871-1937), the Munkatcher Rebbe, aka the Minchat Elazar.

Other prominent Hassidic rabbis with this name (although not directly related to the above-mentioned family) include:

Spira/Spiro
Shapiro

There are also a number of variant spellings of this name, generally with the same pronunciation:

Schapiro
Shapira
Schapira
Shapero

A number of other names have been derived from Shapiro:

Szapiro

Origins from Vilnius (a.k.a. Vilna)

Similar sounding but unrelated names

References

  • Contemporary Sages: the Great Chasidic Masters of the Twentieth Century (Avraham Yaakov Finkel, 1994)
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) ([2])

Futher reading

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