Moses de León

Moses de León
משה בן שם-טוב די-ליאון
Statue of Moses in Guadalajara, Spain (Luis Sanguino)
Personal
Born	c.1240 León,Kingdom of León
Died	1305 Arévalo,Kingdom of León
Religion	Judaism
Known for	Kabbalah

Title page of first edition of the Zohar, Mantua, 1558.Library of Congress.

Moses de León(c.1240 – 1305), known inHebrewasMoshe ben Shem-Tov(משה בן שם-טוב די-ליאון‎), was aSpanishrabbiandKabbalistwho first publicized theZohar.Modern scholars believe the Zohar is his own work, despite his claim that he took traditions going back toShimon bar Yochaiand committed them to writing. His other works includeSefer ha-Rimon,written in Hebrew, and hundreds of pseudepigraphic responsa, commentaries, and Kabbalistic tracts which he falsely attributed to earlier authorities.

Life

Moses de León was born inLeón,Kingdom of Leónin modern-day Spain, then united with theCrown of Castile.He might have been born inGuadalajaraand his surname, then, comes from his father, Shem-Tov de León. He spent 30 years in Guadalajara andValladolidbefore moving toÁvila,where he spent the rest of his life. Moses de León died atArévaloin 1305 while returning to his home.

Resources

• Kohler, Kaufmann et al.,"Leon, Moses (Ben Shem-Tob) de."Jewish Encyclopedia.Funk and Wagnalls, 1901–1906, citing:

• Ahimaaz Chronicle,ed. London, pp. 95 et seq.;
• Adolf Jellinek,Moses b. Schem-Tob de Leon und Seine Verhältniss zum Sohar,Leipsic, 1851;
• Grätz,Gesch.vii. 231 et seq.;
• Abraham Geiger,Das Judenthum und Seine Geschichte,iii. 75 et seq., Breslau, 1871;
• Giovanni Bernardo De RossiandC. H. Hamberger,Hist. Wörterb.p. 177;
• Moritz Steinschneider,Cat. Bodl. cols. 1852et seq.;
• idem, Hebr. Bibl.x. 156 et seq.
• Avishai Bar Asher,R. Moses de León - Sefer Mishkan ha-Edut,Los Angeles: Cherub Press, 2013