In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “born to a lubavitch hasidic family and later became the second president of the jewish theological seminary of”. Today it says “moldavian -born british-american rabbi”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “born to a lubavitch hasidic family and later became the second president of the jewish theological seminary of”. Today it says “moldavian -born british-american rabbi”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Solomon Schechter (1847-1915) was born to a Lubavitch Hasidic family and later became the second President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America ( 1902 to 1915 ) and founder and President of the United Synagogue of America (later to become the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism .) Under his leadership the Seminary obtained a distinguished faculty, and a dynamic momentum. Prior to his presidency, he was reader in Rabbinics at the University of Cambridge . His greatest academic fame came from his discovery of the Cairo Geniza , an extraordinary collection of medieval Jewish texts that were preserved in an Egyptian synagogue. The find revolutionized the study of Medieval Judaism . Solomon Schechter emphasized the centrality of Jewish law (halakha) in Jewish life in a speech in his inaugural address as President of the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1902: "Judaism is not a religion which does not oppose itself to anything in particular. Judaism is opposed to any number of things and says distinctly "thou shalt not." It permeates the whole of your life. It demands control over all of your actions, and interferes even with your menu. It sanctifies the seasons, and regulates your history, both in the past and in the future. Above all, it teaches that disobedience is the strength of sin. It insists upon the observance of both the spirit and of the letter; spirit without letter belongs to the species known to the mystics as "nude souls" nishmatim artilain, wandering about in the universe without balance and without consistency....In a word, Judaism is absolutely incompatible with the abandonment of the Torah." Schechter was an early advocate of Zionism . Schechter is the namesake for a chain of conservative Jewish day schools. There are over a dozen Solomon Schechter Day Schools across the United States.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 15925567.
The opening as it stood in 2010 12 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Solomon Schechter studying documents from the Cairo Geniza, c. 1895.Solomon Schechter ( Hebrew : שניאור זלמן שכטר; December 7, 1847- 1915 ) was a Moldavian -born Romanian and English rabbi , academic scholar, and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America , President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America , and architect of the American Conservative Jewish movement.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 366309682.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Solomon Schechter ( Hebrew : שניאור זלמן שכטר; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian -born Romanian rabbi , academic scholar, and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America , President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America , and architect of the American Conservative Jewish movement.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 662171633.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Solomon Schechter ( ; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian -born American rabbi , academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America , President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America , and architect of American Conservative Judaism .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 955079337.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Moldavian-born rabbi and scholar (1847–1915) Solomon Schechter ( ; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian -born British-American rabbi , academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America , President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America , and architect of American Conservative Judaism .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1174279004.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Moldavian-born rabbi and scholar (1847–1915) Solomon Schechter ( Hebrew : שניאור זלמן הכהן שכטר ; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian -born British-American rabbi , academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America , President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America , and architect of American Conservative Judaism . He is an important figure in Jewish studies and Jewish history , particularly his study of the Cairo Geniza .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1296858684. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “born to a lubavitch hasidic family and later became the second president of the jewish theological seminary of”. Today it says “moldavian -born british-american rabbi”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2025.
Then
born to a lubavitch hasidic family and later became the second president of the jewish theological seminary of
Now
moldavian -born british-american rabbi
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
