- Auerbach (Jewish family)
The Jewish family Auerbach, Авербах (אוּרבּח) of the 16th to 18th century was a family of scholars, the progenitor of which was Moses Auerbach,
court Jew to thebishop of Regensburg , about 1497. One of his daughters, who went after her marriage toKraków , is the reputed ancestress of the celebrated RabbiMoses Isserles ("רמ״א").Another branch of the family settled at
Vienna . A near relative, Meshullam Solomon Fischhof-Auerbach, occupied such an eminent position in the community of Vienna that he married Miriam Lucerna, the daughter of the well-knownrabbi and physician Leo Lucerna (Judah Löb Ma‘or-qat‘on L.). She diedJuly 29 1654 (Frankl , Inschriften, No. 202). In his old age it was his misfortune to be driven from Vienna andexile d (1670) with his coreligionists. Before his death (1677) he had the satisfaction of seeing his sons occupy honorable positions. Nearly twenty years before, his son Menahem Mendel Auerbach was called as rabbi toReussnitz ,Moravia , after having officiated as assessor to the rabbinate at Kraków. The pupil of such men asYom-Tov Lipmann Heller , Joel Sarkes, andJoshua ben Joseph , at theTalmud school in Kraków, Menahem Mendel attained such a reputation as a Talmudic authority that the rabbis of large foreign communities submitted difficult questions to him for decision.The best known among Mendel's brothers is Simon Auerbach, who at the age of twenty-three wrote a
penitential poem on the occasion of anepidemic that broke out among children in Vienna, in 1634. This poem passed through several editions, under the title "Mish'on (sic) la-Yeladim" (Support to Children),Frankfort-on-the-Main , 1711. The author diedMarch 11 1638 , atEibenschütz (). The poem was printed by the grandson of the author, Meshullam Solomon Fischhof, who added a commentary, "Rab Shalom" (Much Peace). He also published severalprayer s andhymn s ofIsrael Nagara , with additions of his own (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1712).Hayyim Auerbach, a second brother of Menahem Mendel, settled at
Kraków , but later returned to Vienna as assessor of the rabbinate, dying there7 October 1665 . A third brother, Benjamin Wolf Auerbach, settled atNikolsburg , and was held in high esteem as elder of the community, even officiating temporarily as chairman of the college of the rabbinate. His testament, printed together with the work "Meqor Chokmah" (Source of Wisdom), which contains an abundance of worldly wisdom and pious reflection, was published by his son, Meshullam Solomon, assessor of the rabbinate at Nikolsburg, who published an ethical work at the same time. Menahem Mendel's successor as rabbi ofKrotoschin was his grandson who bore the same name (the son of Moses Auerbach—diedMay 9 1739 ), and was president of the congregation of Krotoschin and of the Synod of the Four Lands. He was the son-in-law of Rabbi Saul of Kraków. A son of the Simon Wolf mentioned above was David Tebele, surnamed "HaKadosh" (the Holy), who died as rabbi ofPrague . His name was commemorated by his son Samuel Auerbach, the author of "Chesed Shmuel" (Samuel's Charity), Amsterdam.A member of the same family was Phineas Auerbach, president of the Jewish court at Kraków (1695), and author of "Halakah Berurah" (Lucid Law), a commentary on "
Orach Chayim ".Hirsch Auerbach belongs to another branch of the family. He was first assessor of the rabbinate at
Brody , fleeing thence toGermany with a part of the community to escape exorbitanttaxation and the machinations of informers. After wandering from one place to another he settled at Worms, to which he had been called in 1733 to Rabbi Löb Sinzheim's college, and was appointed rabbi in the same community in 1763. He died at WormsMay 3 1778 , in the eighty-eighth year of his life, his pious wife Dobresch (daughter of the president Isaac at Brody) dying a few weeks before him. His son, born at Brody, Abiezri Selig Auerbach, was at first rabbi atEdenkoben , then atBuxweiler , where he died in 1767; his wife was the daughter of Isaac Sinzheim, rabbi atTrier andNiederehnheim .See also
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Auerbach , list of places and persons named Auerbach
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