Schaal (surname)

Schaal (Hebrew: שָׁאַל), sometimes spelled Shaal or Shael, is a Sephardic Jewish and Dutch Surname,[1][2] common among Jews of French, East-European and Middle Eastern background,[3] descended from Spanish exiles.[4]

## Etymology

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The source of the name is debated. Some have linked it to the Hebrew phrase "shaal" (to ask, inquire).[5][6] Some linguists argue that it is rooted in the ancient town ShaalBim as mentioned the bible as a "place of foxes" (Joshua 19:42),[7] indicating that the Schaal name-bearers are members of the Cohen tribe. Due to phonetic differences the Schaal family members who lived in Salonika bore the name Shaul, Shoual or Shaoul,[8] indicating that the name derives from King Shaul.

Since the 18th century, members of the family had settled predominantly in France, South-Eastern Europe and parts of Germany.[9]

## People

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### Schaal family of France

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Schaal is the name of a notable Jewish family descended from Spanish exiles who, after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and the following decades, settled in France and Germany.[10] The family includes:

* François Ignace Schaal (1747–1833), French general and commander of the Republican army

### Others

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* Ben Zion Abba Shaul (1924-1998), Sephardic rabbi, Torah scholar, and halakhic arbiter
* Richard Schaal (1928–2014), American actor
* Wendy Schaal (born 1954), American actress
* Dror Shaul (born 1971), Israeli filmmaker
* Kristen Schaal (born 1978), American actress, voice actress, comedian, and writer

## See also

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* Marranos
* Crypto-Jews
* Spanish and Portuguese Jews
* Sephardim
* Ladino

## References

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1. ^ "Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture." – SephardicStudies.org
2. ^ Faiguenboim, Guilherme (2003). Dicionário sefaradi de sobrenomes. Dictionary of Sephardic surnames : including Christianized Jews, Conversos, Marranos, Italians, Berbers, and their history in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Avotaynu. p. 131\. ISBN 9780195340976.
3. ^ Shaal, Hayyim (2000). A separate people. Jewish Women in Palestine, Syria and Egypt in the Sixteenth Century. Brill's seris in Jewish Studies. Vol. 26. Ruth Lamdan. p. 278\. ISBN 9004117474.
4. ^ Barilan, Yechiel Michal (August 2014). Jewish Bioethics: Rabbinic Law and Theology in their Social and Historical Contexts. Cambridge University Press. p. 212\. ISBN 978-1886223448.
5. ^ "BibleTools - Greek/Hebrew Definitions" – BibleTools.org
6. ^ "BibleHub – Dictionary" – BibleHub.org
7. ^ "ClassicBible – Dictionary" – NetBible.org
8. ^ "Sephardic Names Database" – Sephardicgen.com
9. ^ Sanz, Juan Carlos (6 January 2016). "Spain at last welcomes back the Sephardim". Culture. El País. Retrieved 3 Feb 2016.
10. ^ Medding, Peter Y. (2007). Sephardic Jewry and Mizrahi Jews. Studies in Contemporary Jewry XXII. Institute of Contemporary Jewry. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. p. 131\. ISBN 9780195340976.

## Further reading

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* Schechter, Ronald. Obstinate Hebrews: Representations of Jews in France, 1715–1815 (Univ of California Press, 2003)
* Graetz, Michael, and Jane Todd. The Jews in Nineteenth-Century France: From the French Revolution to the Alliance Israelite Universelle (1996)
* Ashtor, Eliyahu, The Jews of Moslem Spain, Vol. 2, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America (1979)
* Assis, Yom Tov, The Jews of Spain: From Settlement to Expulsion, Jerusalem: Hebrew University of Jerusalem|The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1988)
* Baer, Yitzhak. A History of the Jews of Christian Spain. 2 vols. Jewish Publication Society of America (1966).

Surname list

This page lists people with the surname Schaal.
If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.