Sayyid
(title of descendant of Mu
ammad):
Sayyid al-Shuhad
’
(leader of martyrs):
Scapegoat
.
Jewish sin-offering let loose on the
Day of Atonement
. The Day of Atonement Temple ritual included casting lots between two goats. One was
sacrificed
to God, while the other was dedicated to
Azazel
. It was released into the wilderness and cast over a cliff: see Leviticus 16.
Scapular
(Lat.,
scapulae
, ‘shoulder blades’). Part of the Christian religious
habit
consisting of a piece of cloth worn over the shoulders and hanging down in front and behind. It represents the yoke of Christ (Matthew 11. 29 f.).
Schechter, Solomon
(1847–1915).
Jewish scholar. Schechter came from an
asidic
background. Through his efforts, the manuscripts and fragments of the
Cairo
Geniza were recovered and brought to England. From 1902, he was President of the
Jewish Theological Seminary
, and his
Studies in Judaism
(1896–1924) and
Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology
(1909) are classics of
Conservative Judaism
. He defended traditional ways and values against what he took to be
assimilationist
tendencies in
Reform Judaism
.