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He might have been born in Guadalajara and his surname, then, comes from his father, Shem-Tov de León. He spent 30 years in Guadalajara and Valladolid before moving to Ávila, where he spent the rest of his life. Moses de León died at Arévalo in 1305 while returning to his home.
The details of Moses de León’s life, like those of most Jewish mystics, are obscure. Until 1290 he lived in Guadalajara (the Spanish centre of adherents of the Kabbala). He then traveled a great deal and finally settled in Ávila.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
For a number of years, during the composition of the Zohar, and at least until 1291, he resided in Guadalajara, circulating from his home the first parts of the Zohar, which included a different version of the Midrash ha-Ne'elam.
- 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.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. There is little authentic information about his early life, but as a young student he is known to have been attracted to the Cabala, the occult theosophy then flourishing in Provence and ...
He was born in Guadalajara, Spain (his surname comes from his father, Shem-Tov de León), and spent 30 years in Guadalajara and Valladolid before moving to Ávila, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Life. Moses de León was born in León, Kingdom of León in modern-day Spain, then united with the Crown of Castile. He might have been born in Guadalajara and his surname, then, comes from his father, Shem-Tov de León.
