Judah Leon ben Moses Mosconi

Judah Leon ben Moses Mosconi(born 1328) was aBulgarianRomaniote Jewishscholar andTalmudistborn atOhrid.Owing to the wars which agitatedBulgariain the 14th century, Mosconi left his native country about 1360. He traveled in all the three continents of the Old World. He was inChiosandCyprus,inNégropont(where he became the pupil ofShemariah b. Elijah al-Iḳriṭi), inLaodicea,and later inEgypt(where he studied underObadiah Miẓri,to whom he owed "the greatest part of his learning" ). He was afterward inMorocco,inItaly,and inFrance.InPerpignanhe made the acquaintance of several scholars, among themMoses NarboniandDavid Bongoron.

Mosconi was well versed in philosophical works, both Hebrew and Arabic; but, having a predilection for metaphysics, he occupied himself particularly withIbn Ezra's commentary on thePentateuch,on which he wrote a supercommentary. Most of the 30 supercommentaries on Ibn Ezra which Mosconi examined during his wanderings were, in his opinion, worthless. According to Mosconi, Ibn Ezra wrote his commentary on theProphetsandHagiographabefore that on the Pentateuch, which he wrote 11 years before his death.

Mosconi insisted on the necessity of studying grammar; and he blamed the commentators who neglected it. In his commentary he quotes the other works of Ibn Ezra, those ofSamuel ben Hophni,Saadia's Arabic translation of thePentateuch,Maimonides' commentary on the "Aphorisms" ofHippocrates,Averroes,and the other Arabian philosophers. Simultaneously with his supercommentary, Mosconi began to write other treatises, e.g.:En Gedi,an explanation of certain metaphysical passages disseminated in different works;Reaḥ Niḥoaḥ,a treatise on sacrifices;Ṭa'ame ha-Mibṭa,on grammar—all these works being left unfinished on account of the persecutions which he underwent.

Mosconi's preface to his commentary, in which he gives this information, was published byAbraham Berliner.Mosconi also revised theYosipponand wrote a preface to it.Steinschneiderthinks that the Moses Mosconi mentioned byMoses Begiin hisOhel Moshehas having written against theKaraiteAaron b. Elijahis identical with Judah Leon Mosconi, whose name was incorrectly given by Begi.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Herman Rosenthal;M. Seligsohn(1901–1906)."Judah Leon ben Moses Mosconi".InSinger, Isidore;et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York: Funk & Wagnalls.