Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/344

306 Auerbach

306

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Augury

community

fact that the

of Posen set aside in his

favor the statutory law under which no native of the city could be appointed chief rabbi. In Posen, also, Auerbach 's position was not entirely pleasant for, while he was chief rabbi, Benjamin of Morawczyk was the " rosh yeshibah " (head of the college), and difficulties frequently arose between the two. Hence Auerbach, who had refused a call to Vienna as rabbi in 1628, accepted that position in the following year. He did not stay there long, however, being appointed chief rabbi of Prague, and district rabbi of Bohemia. While in office at Prague he had a quarrel with his predecessor, Lippmann Heller, who had been removed from office by the government. Auerbach wrote several works, none of which has been preserved, nor are any of the names of his many pupils known. According to the testimony of his contemporaries, Auerbach was not only a renowned Talmudist, as is evidenced by the positions he held in the largest community of Poland and of Austria, but a man of inflexible and fearless

character, as his controversies

with many of his

col-

leagues have demonstrated. Bibliography BIocli, Simon Wolf Auerbach, Oberrabbiner von Orosspolen, in Gcdenkbuch zur Erinncruna an David Kaufmann, Breslau, 1900 Lewinstein, in Ha-Goren, i. 41-43 (many of whose statements are inaccurate e.g., there was in Amsterdam no Solomon Aboab, who is alleged to hare been the umpire in a controversy between Auerbach and Maharam) Lieben, GaVEd, pp. 75, 76 (epitaph), German part, p. 63 Nissenbaum, Le-Korot ha-Yehudim be-Lublin, pp. 23, 24, Lub:







the remarks therein^of Harkavy, Buber, and Lewinsteiu it is doubtful whether the period given by Nissenbaum for Auerbach's activity at Lublin is correct)

lin, 1899 (see also

L. G.

k.

AUERBACH, SOLOMON HETMANN: He at Posen at the end of the eightdied there in 1836. He translated Habakkuk into German with explanatory notes (Breslau, 1821). He also collaborated in the translation of the Bible undertaken by Zunz, for which he furnished the translation of Fcclesiastes, on which book he wrote also a Hebrew commentary (Breslau,

brew scholar born

eenth century



1837).

to

them

for six years.

Thirteen years later the Jews

the revenues from them) were pledged by the emperor to the counts of OetAfflueiice tingen, and by the latter to (he family In 1364 the council of of Hoheneek. of Jews,

(that

is,

Augsburg acquiredpossession of them. The city owed large sums to the Jews, and to liquidate them instituted, in 1341, forced loans from the citizens. The bishop's debts to the Jews were canWhen the Black Death celed in part by Charles IV. raged in 1348, and the Jews in Augsburg were masemperor pardoned the burghers for the In 1349 the bishop again received Jews into the city, but six years later transferred to the city council both the duty of protecting them and the privThe emperor demanded 10,000 ilege of taxing them. gulden (1 gulden — 41| cents) from the Jews of Augsburg in 1373 and the council vainly sought to proIn 1384 they had tect them from this amercement. to pay to the council 22,000 gulden and in 1385 King Wenzel canceled all debts owing to the Jews. King Sigismund, in 1429, pledged them to Count von Pappenheim, to whom they had to pay 200 gulden yearly. sacred, the

crime.





The council bought back this right from Pappenheirn in 1439. year later 300 Jews were expelled from the city, and the gravestones in their cemetery

A

were used in the construction of a city hall. In 1456 Frederick III. demanded that the city deliver to him " all his privileges " he was appeased by the payment of 13,000 gulden, for which the city retained From that time the right to admit or to expel Jews. no Jews were permitted to dwell in Augsburg. In 1540 the council decided that Jews might stay no longer than a day and a night in the town; and they had to pay the officer who accompanied them during In 1601 it their stay one " sechser " for the service. was forbidden to borrow money of Jews. During the Thirty Years' war some Jews came to Augsburg. These were officially plundered from time to time under threat of being expelled in 1649 they were again driven out and in 1680 the former edicts of expulsion were revived and intensified. While the War of the Spanish Succession raged, a few Jews again ventured into the city The Jews and in 1704 there were 62 families resPersecuted, ident there. In 1718 even their temporary sojourn was again forbidden. From 1741 to 1745, Jews were again permitted to dwell in Augsburg on account of the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1742 they were 36 families but they were driven out again in 1745. The





Bibliography Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. and Wunsche, Jildvsche Literatur, iii. 745.

763

L. G.

AUGSBURG



I.

Winter

BK.

Capital of the districts of Swabia and Neuburg, Bavaria. According to tradition, it is one of the oldest

Jewish communities in Germany. The first documentary mention of the city is in 1259 but indi;

vidual Jews of Augsburg are

spoken of

earlier.

Of the six houses belonging to the church-chapter,

and mortgaged

in

by Bishop Hart-

1259

mann

of Augsburg, one described as "a Jewish house. In 1276 the congregation possessed a synagogue and a cemetery. The chief occupation of the Jews of Augsburg was money-lending trade in meat and wine was also permitted with certain limitations. In 1316 the Jews of Augsburg must have been affluent, for the city of Munich mortgaged its revenues Seal of the Jews of Augsburg, 1298. is (From " Literaturblntt den Orients.")





made an agreement with the Jews of the surrounding villages in 1751 to the effect that for the yearly payment of 1,100 gulden they might have free admission to the city for trading-purposes. In the years following, the council endeavored to restrict their commercial undertakings; but in 1791 edicts were issued, protecting the Jews against illtreatment and pillage. They were again in the city during the French war of 1796. Of interest is the medieval seal of the congregation, with its inscription, partly in Latin and partly in Hebrew, surrounding a two-headed eagle, and with a conical hat above all (" Literaturblatt des Orients," 1842, col. 73). In " Monatsschrif t, " 1861, (p. 280) mention is made of a " Jewish congregational council