Horowitz
Horowitz (Hebrew: הוֹרוֹביץ, Yiddish: האָראָװיץ, YIVO Horovits) is a surname that has its origin in the Yiddish name for the town of Hořovice (German: Horschowitz or Horowitz) in Bohemia. The patriarch of the family line is thought to be Aaron Meshullam Horowitz, founder of Pinkas Synagogue in Prague, who lived in Hořovice and Prague in the 16th century, and had eight sons who spread the family throughout Europe, which later spread to the Middle East, the Russian Empire and the Americas. Today there are some 50,000 people around the world – mostly of Jewish and more specifically Levite ancestry – carrying a variation of the Horowitz surname.[1]
The Horowitz family is one of the most illustrious rabbinic families in Jewish history. Tradition quoted by scholars traces this family to the "sons of Korah" mentioned in the Bible: Numbers 26:11 and Psalms 47.[2] A family tree exists which traces Horowitz origins back to the 12th century.[3] This family produced some of the greatest rabbinic scholars of Hachmei Provence, France, and Italy in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries.[4] The Sephardic surname of this family was Benveniste,[5] which was later changed to Horowitz upon their immigration to the town of Horowitz (near Prague)[6] in Bohemia in the 16th century.[7] From that time forward, prominent rabbis of this family were found in virtually every European country. In 2016 historian and genealogist Edward Gelles established through Autosomal DNA the traditional belief concerning the descent of the Levitic Horowitz lines from the Halevi and Benveniste of Spain.[8] In 2017 Nature (Journal) Scientific Reports confirmed the allocation of Horowitz Levite samples was consistent with their proposed lineage and their genealogical claim could not be refuted.[9]
Other variants of the name include Harowitz, Harrwitz, Harwitz, Horovitz, Horwicz, Horwitz, Hourwitz, Hurewicz, Hurwicz, Hurwitz, Gerovich, Gurevich, Gurvich, Gourevitch, Orowitz and Urwitz.[10]
List of people with the surname Horowitz
Rabbis
- Aaron HaLevi ben Moses of Staroselye
- Chaim Avrohom HaLevi Horowitz, Zidachov, Bostoner Rebbe New York
- Isaiah Horowitz, Prague-born rabbi of Germany, Austria, Prague and Palestine, Kabbalist, and author, 1555–1630
- Levi Yitzchak Horowitz, Bostoner rabbi, 1921–2009
- Mayer Alter Horowitz, Bostoner rabbi in Har Nof, b. 1946
- Moshe HaLevi Horowitz, Jerusalem, 2nd Bostoner Rebbe, New York ( ),
- Moshe Meshullam Halevy Horowitz (1832–1894), Galician rabbi
- Naftali Yehuda Horowitz, Bostoner rabbi of Boston
- Pinchas Horowitz (c.1731-1805), German rabbi and Talmudist
- Pinchas David Horowitz (1877-1931), First Bostoner rabbi, 1876–1941
- Pinchos Dovid HaLevi Horowitz, Williamsburg, Bostoner Rebbe Flatbush
- Shabbethai Horowitz (1590-1660), Volhynia-born Austrian rabbi and Talmudist, son of the Isaiah
- Shabtai Sheftel Horowitz (1565–1619) , rabbi and nephew of Isaiah Horowitz
- Shmelke of Nikolsburg (1726-1778), Galician-born Landesrabbiner of Moravia and kabbalist
- Shmuel Horowitz (1903-1973), compiler and publisher of Breslov books.
- Yidele Horowitz (1905–1989), Hasidic rebbe of Dzikov
Other people
• Adam Horowitz (rapper, musician, actor) (born 1966) AKA Ad-Rock member of The Beastie Boys
- Adam Horowitz (screenwriter) (born 1971), American TV show writer
- Alexandre Horowitz (1904–1982), Dutch technical engineer and inventor
- Andrew Horowitz (born 1983), American songwriter, producer and former member of Tally Hall (band)
- Anthony Horowitz (born 1955), British author and television scriptwriter
- Ariel Horowitz (born 1970), an Israeli singer-songwriter
- Barry Horowitz (born 1959), American professional wrestler
- Ben Horowitz (born 1966), technology entrepreneur and investor
- Curly Howard (1903-1952), American comedian, birth name Jerome Horowitz
- Daniel Horowitz (born 1954), legal analyst and attorney
- David Horowitz (born 1939), formerly New Left but now conservative writer and social activist
- David Horowitz (economist) (1899–1979), first governor of the Bank of Israel
- David Horowitz (author) (1903–2002), founder of the United Israel World Union
- David Horowitz (consumer advocate) (1937–2019), American consumer advocate
- See also David Horowitz (disambiguation)
- Donald Horowitz (New Jersey lawyer) (born 1936), an American lawyer
- Donald L. Horowitz (born 1939), a professor of law and political science at Duke University
- Eugene Maurice Orowitz (1936 – 1991), American Actor better known by stage name Michael Landon
- Harry Horowitz (1889 – 1914), American underworld figure and a leader of the Lenox Avenue Gang in New York City
- Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz (born 1942), professor emerita of American studies and history at Smith College
- Isaac Horowitz (1920–2005), scientist automatic control theory, developed quantitative feedback theory
- Israel Albert Horowitz (1907–1973), American chess master
- Jerome Horwitz (1919–2012), American scientist
- Jordan Horowitz (born 1980), American film producer
- Leah Horowitz (born 1933), Israeli Olympic hurdler
- Michael Horowitz, American author, husband of writer Cynthia Palmer and father of actress Winona Ryder
- Michael E. Horowitz, American lawyer and current Inspector General of the United States Department of Justice
- See also Michael Horowitz (disambiguation)
- Moses Horowitz (1944- 1910), Yiddish playwright
- Moe Howard (1897–1975), American comedian, birth name Moses Harry Horowitz
- Nitzan Horowitz (born 1965), Israeli journalist and politician
- Norman Horowitz (1915–2005), American geneticist and space biologist
- Paul Horowitz (born 1942), U.S. physicist and electrical engineer
- Ryszard Horowitz (born 1930), Polish photographer
- Scott J. Horowitz (born 1957), American astronaut
- Shemp Howard (1895–1955), American actor, birth name Samuel Horowitz
- Shmuel Hurwitz (1901–1999), Israeli agronomist
- Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989), renowned American classical pianist
- Wayne Horowitz, archeologist
- Winona Ryder (born 1971), American actress, birth name Winona Horowitz
Other
- S. Horowitz & Co., Israeli law firm
References
- The Horowitz Families Association
- Horowitz, Tzvi (1928). Toldot Mishpahat Horowitz. Krakow. p. 5. OCLC 233063982. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- Shapiro, Jacob Leib (1981), Ancient Jewish Families, Israel: Chulias Publishing, pp. 195, 196.
- Shapiro 1981, pp. 163–194
- "Famous Rabbinical Surnames". JewishGen.
- Guggenheimer, Heinrich Walter; Guggenheimer, Eva H (1992), Jewish Family Names and Their Origins: An Etymological Dictionary, KTAV Publishing House, p. 347], ISBN 978-0-88125-297-2
- "Horvitz Coat of Arms / Horvitz Family Crest". Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store. 4crests.com. Retrieved 2018-05-03.
- Gelles, Edward. "Gelles, Friedman, Horowitz, and Benveniste" (PDF). Balliol College Archives & Manuscripts.
- "The genetic variation in the R1a clade among the Ashkenazi Levites' Y chromosome". Nature.
- http://www.shlomo.horwitzfam.org/Origin_of_Horowitz_Name.htm