Lauterbach, Asher Zelig
LAUTERBACH, ASHER ZELIG
LAUTERBACH, ASHER ZELIG (1826–1906), Galician Hebrew scholar and author. Lauterbach, born in Drohobych, studied on his own as a youth and acquired a comprehensive knowledge of Jewish and classical literature. An industrialist of independent means, he devoted much of his time to research and communal activity. Lauterbach maintained a lively correspondence with his fellow scholars and writers and wrote (over the signature זה״ל) biblical and talmudic studies for most of the Hebrew papers and periodicals of the time. Lauterbach's published works, containing to a large extent reprints of his articles, included Ha-Nistarot ve-ha-Niglot (1871), on superstitions and magic in Talmud and Midrash; Minḥat Azkarah (1889), commentary and notes on the treatise Avot;Minḥat Erev (with the appendix "Nes Hanukkah," 1891), a collection of eulogies; Minḥat Kohen (1892), part 1 on the proper names in the Bible and part 2 on the question of whether a Jew is permitted to live in Egypt; Minḥah Ḥadashah (1893), a Passover Haggadah with commentary; Minḥah Belulah (1902), notes on the Bible and a eulogy on his brother. His autobiography appeared in: N. Sokolow (ed.), Sefer Zikkaron (1889), 146–53.
bibliography:
L. Lauterbach, Chronicle of the Lauterbach Family (1948, 19603, with 3 suppls., 1962–68).
[Getzel Kressel]