Moses ben-Jacob. See Moses Albrt.da.
Moses de Leon (ben-Shem-Tob), a Jewish phi- losopher, poet, and theologian of repute, was born at Leon about 1250, and died at Arevolo, A.D. 1305. He is best known as the author of the Cabalistic book called the Sohar, which he first published and sold as the pro- duction of E. Simon b.-Jochai. We do not agree with Etheridge, who states that " the opinion that ascribes it (viz. the Sohar) as a ywewc/o-fabrication to Moses de Leon in the 13th century has, I imagine, but few believ- ers among the learned on this subject in our own day," for Jloses's wife and daughter admitted that he Avas the author of it, as will be seen from an account of it in the Book Juchassin (p. 88, 89, 95, ed. Filipawski, London, 1857), which Ginsburg {Kabbalah, p. 99) gives in the following abridged form : When Isaac of Akko, who escaped the massacre after the capture of this city (A.D. 1291), came to Spain and there saw the Sohar, he was anxious to ascertain whether it was genuine, since it pretended to be a Palestinian production, and he, though born and brought up in the Holy Land, in constant in- tercourse with the disciples of the celebrated Cabalist, Nachmanides, had never heard a syllable about this marvellous work. Now IMoses de Leon, whom he met in Valladolid, declared to him with a most solemn oath that he had at Avila an ancient copy, which was the very autograph of Rabbi Simon ben-Jochai, and offered to submit it to him to be tested. In the mean time, however, Closes de Leon was taken ill on his journey home, and died at Arevolo, A.D. 1305. But two distin-
MOSES BEX-MOCIIA
690
MOSHEDI
guished men of Avila, David Rafen and Joseph de Avi- la, who were determined to sift the matter, ascertained the falsehood of this story from the widow and daugh- ter of Moses de Leon. Being a rich man, and knowing that Moses de Leon left his family without means, Jo- seph de Avila promised that if she would give him the original MS. of the Sohar from which lier husband made the copies, his son should marry her daughter, and that lie would give them a handsome dowry ; where- upon tlie widow and daughter declared that they did not possess any such MS.; that Moses de Leon never had it, but that he composed the Hohur from his own head, and wrote it with his own hand. ^loreovcr, the widow candidly confessed that she liad frequently asked her husband wliy he published the production of his own intellect under another man's name, and that he told her " that if he were to publish it under his own name nobody would buy it, whereas under the name of E. Simon ben-Jochai it yielded him a large revenue." Now this account is confirmed by the fact tliat the So- /(«/• contains whole passages which Closes de Leon trans- lated into Aramaic from his other works, as the learned Jellinek has clearly proved in his very elaborate and learncil essay, Moses ben-Shem-Tub de Leon, und sein Verhdltniss sum Sohar, p. 21-3G. jNIoses de Leon also wrote a book on the soul and its destiny, entitled n^=nn -dSS, i. e. the Soul of Wisdom (Basle, 1608) : —t\\Q Weight of Wisdom, tTSrriri i;?"::^, which con- tains the sayings of various philosophers, which he ably criticises: — E"i"tl "lED, on the ten Sephiroth and the thirty-two ways of Wisdom: — ^l^^?l^ "li'^jp, On Hell and Paradise: — 'jia'l O, The Book of Pomegranates, composed in 1287, which is a Cabalistic explanation of the Miisaic precepts. See Ftirst, BibLJudaica, ii, 232; De Kossi, Dizionario (Germ, transl.), p. 177; Griitz, Ges(:h.,i..hid,ii (I>(ips. 1873),vii, 21G-234; Lindo, ///*-?. of th<' .h !(■.■< ill S/iiiiii, p. 113; Finn, Sephardim, p. 303 sq. ; Stcuisihnciilcr. Jewish Literature, p. 113; Ether- idge, lidrod. to llcbr. Literature, p. 27{), 314; (iinsburg. The Kabbalah, p. 90 sq. ; Ueberweg, Hist, of J'hilosophij (Morris's transl. N. Y. 1872), i, 417; A. Jellinek, Moses hen-Shem-Toh, u. s. Verhdltniss zum Sohar (Leips. 1851) ; Jost, Gesch. d. Juden. u. s. Sekten, iii, 78 ; Cassel, Leilfa- den zurjiid.Gesch. u. Literatur (Leips. 1872), p. 71. (B. P.)
Moses ben-Mocha oi- Palestine, or Tiberias, a Jewish writer of some note, tlourished towards the close of the Oth century. He developed and am])llfied the in- terlineai-y system of vocalization (ipi;':, "jinnmOi'IJ n::"3^), called the Tiberian ("^a-ai:: lip:), which has for centuries been ado])ted both by the Synagogue and the Church in all the pointed editions of the Hebrew Scriptures. Like his father, \\. Jloses also wrote Mas- soretic glosses both in the margin of the Codd, and in separate works, entitled '^^^^ "'ISO.
Moses ben-Nachman. See Naciimaxides.
Moses Tiir, l'rx( TLATOR (']^p3!^ fTw'a '"!), or the Cantor ("iTr! ), a .lewi.sh exegetist, livetl in London about the middle of the I3th century, and is noted as the author of the well-known Treatise embodying the rules about the points of the llebreto Scriptures, called
nirajm '[yp'^^n 13m, or '^^p•^':r^ -^"^hz, also in the
MSS. Xnipn n'^i-.in. Excerpts of this treatise, made by Jacob ben-Chayim, were lirst ])rinted with tiie Mas- sora in the R<d)binic Jiible (Venice, 1 .')24-2.') ), and since in all the editions of the Rabbinic Bible. The treatise has also been published separately with a short com- mentary by Zebi ben-]Menachem (Wilna, 1822), and with corrections and German notes by Frensdorff (Han- over, 1847). Tho.se who recognise the real importance of the Hebrew vowel-points and accents will find in this unpretentious treatise a useful guide. If. Moses was thoroughly accpiainted with and tpiotes the grammatical and cxegetical writings of his ijredeccssors, as Chayug,