Aaron of Neustadt
AARON OF NEUSTADT
AARON OF NEUSTADT (Blumlein ; d. 1421), rabbinical scholar of Krems (Lower Austria). Aaron was a brother-in-law of Abraham *Klausner. He was a student, and then a colleague of Sar Shalom of Vienna (Wiener-Neustadt), and also of Jacob (Jekel) of Eger, rabbi in Vienna. Aaron was rabbi in Wiener-Neustadt and then in Vienna. A halakhic controversy arose between Aaron and Jacob on the question of non-Jews supplying Jewish prisoners with food on the Sabbath, a practice permitted by Aaron (Leket Yosher, ed. by J. Freimann, 1 (1903), 64). Aaron's nephew and outstanding pupil was Israel b. Pethahiah *Isserlein, who often quotes his master's biblical and talmudic teachings, in his Pesakim u-Khetavim (1519) and in his Be'urim (1519). He refers, in particular, to Hilkhot Niddah, a halakhic compendium by Aaron. Among Aaron's famous followers were Jacob b. Moses *Moellin (Maharil) and Isaac Tyrnau, author of Minhagim (1566), all of whom quote him. During the Vienna persecutions of 1420 Aaron was imprisoned and suffered severe tortures, from which he died.
bibliography:
Michael, Or, no. 277; J. Freimann (ed.), Leket Yosher, 2 (1904), 20–21, no. 14; S. Eidelberg, Jewish Life in Austria (1962), index.