Moses (Moses, Moshe) Botarel (or Boniak Botarel from Cisneros ; English Moses Bonyak Botarel of Cisneros ; the border of the XIV and XV centuries.) - Spanish Kabbalist rabbi and scholar; self-proclaimed messiah [2] .
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Activities
Moses Botarel lived in Cisneros at the turn of the XIV and XV centuries. He was a student of Jacob Sefardi ( English Jacob Sefardi the Spaniard ), who taught him Kabbalah . He also studied medicine and philosophy; he considered the latter to be divine knowledge, which teaches the same thing as Kabbalah, using only a different language and other terms to refer to the same concepts. [2]
The Botarel glorifies Aristotle as a sage, applying to him the Talmudic dictum “a sage is better than a prophet ”, and condemns contemporaries for the indifferent attitude to the divine science - philosophy. But, despite his reverence for philosophy, Botarel believed in the real influence of amulets and cameos , said that he could combine the names of God for practical purposes. [2]
He also believed or rather tried to assure others that the prophet Elijah appeared to him and appointed him the Messiah . In this role, he sent a circular letter to the rabbis, in which he assured himself that he was able to resolve all difficult, dubious and confusing questions, and asked him to turn to him (this letter was printed by Dukes in Orient. Lit., 1850, p. 825). He spoke of himself in this letter as a famous, outstanding rabbi, a saint and pious of the pious. Many believed in his miracles, including the philosopher Hasdai Kreskas . [2]
Moses Botarel was present at the debate in Tortoz (1413-1414); believe that he wrote a polemical article against [3] [2] .
At the request of the Christian scholar Maestro Juan, in 1409 he wrote a commentary on the Sepher Yetzirah . In the introduction, he apologized for exposing the divine secrets of this book to a Christian and in his justification referred to the saying of the sages that a non-Jew studying the Torah is equal to the high priest . In his commentary, he cites ancient Kabbalistic works, including those that he ascribes to the most ancient authorities, such as, for example, the Amor Rabbi Asha . Characteristically, he does not quote the Zohar . The commentary of Moses Botarel on “Sepher Yetzirah” was printed in Mantua in 1562 with text and other comments and then reprinted many times. [2]
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Record # 52430162 // VIAF - 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Moses Botarel // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron . - SPb. , 1908-1913.
- ↑ “Joshua ben-Joseph al-Lorca, who adopted the name Jerome de Santa Fe after baptism, wrote“ Tractatus contra perfidiam Judaeorum ”and“ De Judaeis Erroribus ex Talmuth ”. The last work was repeatedly reprinted under the name "Hebraeomastix". These works provoked a number of answers from the Jews. ”/ Polemic literature // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron . - SPb. , 1908-1913.
Links
- Moses Bonyak Botarel of Cisneros / JewishEncyclopedia.com