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Auerbach

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

dance-house " in Augsburg (1290). Numerous Hebooks, distinguished for their beautiful typography, were printed there beAncient tween the years 1514 and 1543. CongregaOf the various rabbis of the congretional gation of Augsburg mention must be Dancemade of the venerable Senior, who in House. 1348, an eighty -four-year-old sage, was assassinated while poring over his books. Elijah of Augsburg wrote a commentary upon Moses of Coucy's "Sefer Mizwot Gadol (Semag), which exists in manuscript in the Vatican library Jacob Weil, son of Judah, one of the most

brew



distinguished rabbis in Germany in the fifteenth century, was also of Augsburg. The cemetery adjacent to the town served as the burial-place for five communities of Swabia. The new congregation has been in existence since 1861. In 1862 Dr. Hirschfeld was appointed rabbi and he was succeeded by Heinrich Gross. The congregation now (1900) numbers 1,156 members. Hebrew typography is coeval with the study of In 1514 Erhard the Hebrew language in Germany. Oeglin printed the Decalogue and several parts of the New Testament in Boeschenstein's

Early

"Elementale Introductorium in Hebraas Literas," which is embellished with an elaborate border, falsely ascribed to Hans Holbein. Actual print-

Hebrew Printing,

ing in Hebrew was practised by the traveling printer Hayyim Schwarz, who in 1533 completed the Megillot andRashi's Commentary on the Pentateuch as the first printed production in Augsburg. On Jan. 19, 1534, the Passover Haggadah was completed and in the same year there was published at Augsburg by an anonymous author a guide to correspondence which became very popular during the seventeenth century. Previous to 1536 there successively appeared a daily prayer-book (" tefillah"), a festival prayer-book (" mahzor "), and a penitential prayerbook (" selihot "), all according to the German ritual. With his son Isaac and his son-in-law Josef b. Yakar, Schwarz in 1540 published the " Turini " of Jacob b. Asher, and " Abkat Rokel " (The Merchant's These Spicebox), a work ascribed to one Makir. were followed by the Book of Kings (1543), and the Book of Samuel (1544), both in Judseo-German rime. All of these typographical productions are exceedingly beautiful, and may be classed among the rarest specimens of the printer's art. In 1544 Paulus ^Emilprofessor at Ingolstadt, edited at a JudaBO-German Pentateuch. ius, later

Augsburg

Stobbe, Die Juden in Deutschland Wtlhrend des Mittelalters, Brunswick, 1866 idem, Oesch. der Juden Salfeld, in der Reichsstadt A ugsburg, Augsburg, 1803 Martyrologium des Nurnbergcr Memorbuches, p. 244; Die Augsburger Juden in Mittelalter, in Israelii, 1873, Nos. 8-13 and the literature collected by Burkhardt and Stern, in Zeit. fur OescU. der Juden in Deutschland, iii. Steinscnneider, Zeitschrift fi,r die Oesch. der Ju109, 110 den in Deutschland, pp. 282-287 idem. Cat. Bndl. col. 1395 Ersch and Gruber, Encyklopddie, 8 2, xxviii. 49.

Bibliography













G.— J.

A. P.

ATJGURY

Originally, prophesying by the flight of birds but later the term was applied to all forms airi-gur, oluvbc, aluvmrai, etc. ). of foretelling (augur Augury was first systematized by the Chaldeans.



=

The Greeks were addicted

to it;

and among the

Augury

Romans no important action of state was undertaken without the advice of the augurs. In fact, the belief in augury has existed at all times, among the uncivilized as well as the most civilized nations, to the present day, the wish to know the future continually giving rise to some art of peering into it. The various species of Augury, however, depend on the conditions of external nature, race peculiarities, and historical influences. The future was foretold by the aspect of the heavens (Astrology) by dreams, lots, oracles, and such things Kinds of orspirits were invoked (Necromancy), Augury, and the Tbraphi.m and Urim and Thujimtm were questioned. As these forms of prognostication, as well as the pagan method, Divination, are treated under their several headings, this article will be devoted to Augury in the strict sense of the word, including, however, all predictions dependent on chance happenings. All signs and intimations coming under the concepts " nihush " (whisper) and " siman " (omen) belong to Jewish Augury, the history of which may be divided into Biblical, Talmudic, and medieval periods. In Bible Times The observation of the flight of birds for the purpose of prophesying, or as a prognostication, is not expressly mentioned in the Bible. That it was not unknown, however, is shown in Eccl. x. 20, "for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall Flight of tell the matter. " This knowledge may Birds. also be assumed in view of the fact that among the Arabs the raven was a bird of omen. The Greek version several times translates "nahash" by oluvbc; but this word, like the Latin "augurium," means any kind of prognostication, and not merely that by the flight or the cry of birds. It is nevertheless a curious fact that tradition



also originally applied the prognostication designated

by nahash

omens derived from animals.

to the

Jo-

seph practised hydromancy. He divined (nahash) the future by pouring water into a cup, throwing little pieces of gold or jewels into the fluid, observing the figures that were formed, and predicting accordingly (Gen. xliv. 5, according to Dillman's commentary). Laban found out in a similar way (nahash) that God blessed him on account of Jacob (Gen. xxx. 27).

King Manasseh

also practised this species of divina-

Another 6; II Chron.' xxxiii. 6). in observing the signs from staves planted upright or flung on the ground (" Cyril of tion (II

Kings xxi.

method consisted

Alex." in Winer, "B. R." ii. 673), a method that is not identical with the arrow oracle (Hosea iv. 12; perhaps Ezek. viii. 17; compare Num. xvii. 16 et seq.). Ezekiel (xxi. 26 [A. V. 21]) speaks of the arrow oracle of the king of Babylon; but the prophet Elisha also directs the Israelite king Joash to shoot two arrows through the window in order to find out whether Joash will vanquish the

Hydromancy, Rhabdomancy, and Belomancy.

Aramaic king

(II

Kings

xiii.

14-19).

Accidental occurrences (ai/™^a) are of great importance in divination, and may be taken as omens (<«/-

=

uela "siman "). Eliezer, " I stand at the well.

I shall say,

Let

.

.

Abraham's servant, said: and the damsel to whom

down thy pitcher,

I

pray

thee, that I