Judah Moscato

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Judah Moscato
Personal
Bornc. 1530
Osimo, Papal States
Diedc. 1593
Mantua, Duchy of Mantua
ReligionJudaism

Judah Moscato (c. 1530 – c. 1593) was an Italian rabbi, poet, and philosopher of the sixteenth century; born at

Judah ha-Levi and Maimonides, he was an enthusiastic student of the Cabala
.

Moscato published, under the title Nefuẓot Yehudah (Venice, 1588; Lemberg, 1859), fifty-two sermons, which inaugurated a new epoch in homiletic literature. Most of these were delivered in

Hebrew or in Italian; and while they observe the rules of rhetoric they deal with their subjects naturally and without forced exegesis. His other printed work, Ḳol Yehuda (Venice, 1594), was the first commentary on the "Cuzari" of Judah ha-Levi. Since this fact would at once secure for it a wide circulation, the rabbis Cividali and Saraval of Mantua urged him to publish it. It appeared posthumously, and since then has always been printed together with the "Cuzari." Moscato wrote poetry also, especially elegies on the deaths of friends and scholars, including one on the death of Joseph Caro. Three of his elegies, on the death of Duchess Margherita of Savoy
(d. 1574), have recently become known.

Here is an excerpt from Rabbi Moscato's book Kol Yehuda:

Should it not be believed that the great and awe-inspiring story which is the basis and essence of this book [The Kuzari by Yehuda HaLevi] is true and really happened? If that were not so, why would the author of the book lie? For he wrote in the beginning of his book: 'As it has been recorded and known from historical works.' He repeated that in the introduction to the second part of his book: 'This is what happened afterwards with regard to the Kuzari, as it is known in the books of Khazaria...'" (translation by Rabbi Gershom Barnard)

References

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Moscato, Judah Aryeh". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  • Zunz, G. V. p. 446;
  • idem, Literaturgesch. p. 419;
  • Abba Apfelbaum, Sefer Toledot R. Yehudah Moscato, Drohobicz, 1900.

Further reading

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