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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
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THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

AUERBACH, ISAAC LEVIN: A

German

preacher, educator, and author; born at Inowraclaw, Prussia, March 21, 1791 died at Dessau July He was the son of Levin Isaac Auerbaeh, 5, 1853. rabbi of Inowraclaw, and brother of Baruch Auerbaeh, the well-known founder of the Jewish Orphan Asylum in Berlin. Isaac belonged to that small band of Jewish young men in Berlin who, in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, paved the

way for reforms in Judaism. After receiving an education in Bible and Talmud from his father and at Lissa, he went to Berlin, where he devoted himself to the study of languages and science. His attainments and abilities must have been considerable, for he was appointed preacher at the Jacobsen temple, in which also Kley, Gilnsburg, and Zunz delivered their German sermons. His next position was on the teaching staff of the Jewish girls' school of Berlin, and finally he was called to the temple of Leipsic, where he officiated for more than twentyfive years.

Auerbach's activities were chiefly directed toward a reform of the divine service. He considered it first an exigency of changed conditions; secondly, the most potent factor in the improvement of the whole religious and ethical life. Likewise he pointed out the necessity of establishing schools, and pleaded for a spirit of toleration in all religious and political matters. These ideas pervade his works and sermons, of which the following were published (1) " Sind die Israeliten Verpflichtet Ihre Gebete Durchaus in Hebraischer Sprache zu Verrichten?" Berlin, 1818 arguing on rabbinical grounds for the introduction of the German language into the service (2) " Die Wichtigste Angelegenheiten Israels, Leipsic, 1828 containing nine sermons; (3) "Die Aufnahme Israels in die Grosse Gemeinschaft der Nationen," Leipsic, 1833; (4) " Israels Jungste Heimsuchung," Leipsic, 1840— on the Damascus affair; (5) " Das Verstftndniss der Zeit, " Leipsic, 1845 on the reform tendencies in Judaism.

Bibliography redner,

i.

Kayserling,

Bibliothek JUdischer

Kanzeh

19-20.

M. B.

s.

Auerbaeh, Eleazar Auerbaeh, Leopold

Among Auerbach's contributions to Jewish history and literature are his essay on " Lessing and Mendelssohn," 1867, and a "History of the Jewish Community of Vienna from 1784." His most valuable work, however, was the publication of the letters received by him from Berthold Auerbaeh, covering the period from the time of the separation of the two friends at Carlsruhe in April, 1830, to the death of the novelist, Feb. 8, 1883. These letwhich appeared in two volumes under the title Berthold Auerbaeh Briefe an Seinen Freund Jacob Auerbaeh," Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1884, and in ters,

"

which the whole character and individuality of Berthold Auerbaeh were unconsciously revealed, form an excellent autobiography of the writer. Jacob was also the author of several educational works and of the "Schul- und Hausbibel," 1858, which had a wide circulation in Jewish communities in

Germany. A.

s-

Educator and author; born at Emmendingen, Baden, Nov. 14, 1810; died Oct. 31, 1887. He received his early education in Carlsruhe, where, in the autumn of 1827, he met his cousin and, later, brother-in-law, Berthold Auerbaeh, the famous novelist, with whom he formed ties

of close and lasting friendship. When, on account of straitened circumstances, Jacob was compelled to

abandon his studies at the University of Heidelberg, Berthold came to his assistance. In Wiesbaden, where the young scholar was

called to occupy the position of a religious teacher after his graduation from the university, he became one of the most intimate friends and enthusiastic followers of Abraham

Called to Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1842, for nearly forty years with his duties as religious teacher in the Jewish community and (after 1848) at the gymnasium, and with occasional sermons at the " Andachtssaal." He was pensioned by the government in 1879 and, in recognition of his services at the Frankfort Gymnasium, he was decorated with the Order of the Bed Eagle. Geiger.

his time

was occupied

C.

Au-

thor of " Darke Yesharim " (Paths of the Righteous), a treatise on ethics and morals in the Yiddish dialect, published in Amsterdam in 1758. Bibliography: Zedner, Cat. Hebr. Books British Museum, p. 63 Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 120.

D.

AUERBACH, LEOPOLD

A. R.

German physician

and

biologist; born at Breslau April 27, 1828; died there Sept. 30, 1897. He studied in Breslau, Leipsic, and Berlin, receiving his doctorate in 1849. The

following year he began the practise of medicine in Breslau, and at the same time devoted himself, under the direction of Purkinje, to the study of histology and neuropathology. In 1863 he became docent at Breslau University, and remained in that position nine years, when he was promoted to the rank of assistant professor of general biology and histology, which he held for a quarter of a century. His chief contribution to science is in the domain of cellular biology and histology, in which he attained considerable eminence. The results of his weighty studies on the cell are embodied in the " Organologische Studien " (parts i. and ii. Breslau, 1874), which treats of the structure, chemical constitution, and life-history of the cell-nucleus, and of the early stages of development of the fertilized ovum. Auerbaeh belongs to the class of modern biologists whose investigations not only paved the way toward the elucidation of important problems in biology, but raised wholly new questions regarding the mechanism of the development and role of the cell His researches have in hereditary transmission. materially advanced the knowledge of cell-life and cell-structure. According to Oscar Hertwig, Auerbaeh established satisfactorily that during cell-division the nucleus does not become dissolved, but becomes metamorphosed. Auerbaeh also made the important discovery that during conjugation the nuclei of oval eggs rotate so that the axis of the spindle coincides with the longest diameter of the egg. To his cytological researches must be added his investigations on the lymphatics of the intestines as well as his discovery of the cellular structure of the capillaries and his work on the physiology of muscle. Besides his " Organologische Studien," ,

AUERBACH, JACOB:

S.

AUERBACH, JOSEPH DANZIGER: