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Moses de Leon. (ben-Shem-Tob), a Jewish philosopher, 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 production of R. Simon b.-Jochai.
Moses ben Shem Tov de León was a Spanish rabbi and Kabbalist who is believe to be the author of the Zohar. de León lived in Muslim Spain and little to nothing is known of his upbringing, his teachers or his early studies.
- Writings in His Own Name
- The Zohar
- Teachings
- Legacy
- References
A serious student of the mystical tradition, Moses de Leon was familiar both with the philosophers of the Middle Ages and the whole literature of Jewish mysticism. He knew and used the writings of Shlomo ibn Gabirol, Yehuda ha-Levi, Maimonides, and others. His writings display the ability to charm his readers with brilliant and striking phrases, co...
Toward the end of the thirteenth century, Moses de Leon wrote or compiled the Zohar, a kabbalistic midrash (commentary) on the Pentateuch, full of esoteric mystic allegories and rabbinical legends. This work he ascribed to Shimon bar Yochai, the great saint of the tannaim (the early rabbinical sages of the Mishnah). The work, written in a peculiar ...
The Zohar is based on the principle that all visible things have both an external, visible reality and an internal one, which hints at the reality of the spiritual world. Also, the universe consists of a series of emanations, though which humans can gradually ascend toward a consciousness of the Divine. It teaches that there are thus four stages of...
Through the Zohar, Moses de Leon left a powerful legacy on both Jewish and Christian tradition. The Zohar was praised by numerous rabbis for its opposition to religious formalism. It stimulated the imagination and emotions, reinvigorating the spirituality of many Jews who felt suffocated by Talmudic scholasticism and legalism. Other rabbis, however...
Caplan, Samuel. The Great Jewish Books and Their Influence on History. New York: Horizon Press, 1952. OCLC 377296.Giller, Pinchas. Reading the Zohar: The Sacred Text of the Kabbalah. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 9780195118490.Matt, Daniel Chanan. The Zohar. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006. ISBN 9780804752107.Marǵolies, Morris B. Twenty/Twenty: Jewish Visionaries Through Two Thousand Years. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 2000. ISBN 9780765760579.Moses De León was a Jewish Kabbalist and presumably the author of the Sefer ha-Zohar (“Book of Splendour”), the most important work of Jewish mysticism; for a number of centuries its influence among Jews rivaled that of the Old Testament and the Talmud, the rabbinical compendium of law, lore, and
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Jewish mystic Moses de Leon (ca. 1250-1305) is the reputed author of the most important of Jewish mystical books, the "Book of Zohar." Born in León, Spain, Moses de Leon lived in Guadalajara for the first 30 years of his life, then moved to Ávila, where he spent the remainder of his years.
Moses de León (c. 1240 – 1305), known in Hebrew as Moshe ben Shem-Tov (משה בן שם-טוב די-ליאון ), was a Spanish rabbi and Kabbalist who first publicized the Zohar. Modern scholars believe the Zohar is his own work, despite his claim that he took traditions going back to Shimon bar Yochai and committed them to writing.
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Overview. Moses de Leon. Quick Reference. Spanish Kabbalist (d. 1305). De Leon was the author of a number of Kabbalistic works but these pale into insignificance when compared to his major work, the Zohar, or, at least, to the major portions of this work.
