Moses ben Avraham Avinu (died ca. 1733/34) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

- Austrian printer and author who was a Christian convert to Judaism. His father, Jacob, was also a convert. Moses was born at Nikolsburg (now

Mikulov Mikulov (; ) is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,600 inhabitants. From the 16th to the 19th century, it was the cultural centre of the Jewish community of Moravia. The historic centr ...

). He became a native of

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, and was circumcised at

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. In 1686–87, he worked for two printers of Amsterdam, but from 1690 to 1694 seems to have owned a printing establishment and to have printed several Hebrew books, including his own Judeo-German translation of

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

's ''Yewen Mezulah''. He assisted with the engravings for the 1695

Passover Haggadah The Haggadah (, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a foundational Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table fulfills the mitzvah incumbent on every Jew to rec ...

, which was printed by Kosman Emrich. In 1709, Moses established a printing-office in the German town of Halle, where in 1712 he printed his ''Tela'ot Moshe'' (or "Weltbeschreibung"), a Judeo-German work on the Ten Tribes, having collected the material from a number of sources, particularly from Abraham Farissol and Gedaliah ibn Yahya. He continued printing in Halle until 1714, in which year he printed ''Tefillat Moshe'', a prayer-book, and Berechiah Berakh's ''Zera' Berak''. Owing to anti-Christian passages in these two works, his printing-office was closed by royal order. He was imprisoned, and his books were confiscated. His coreligionists, however, helped him to escape to Amsterdam, where he printed in the same year (1714) '' Mesechtas Rosh ha-Shanah''. He died in Amsterdam in 1733 or 1734. His children also became printers in Amsterdam. His printing press was acquired from and supported by Moses Benjamin Wulff.

References

* :* http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=835&letter=M :* http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=372&letter=T#1628

External links

''Tela'ot Moshe''
by Moses ben Abraham a
Hebrewbooks.org
18th-century converts to Judaism 18th-century Dutch Jews 18th-century German Jews Dutch Ashkenazi Jews Dutch printers German Ashkenazi Jews German printers Converts to Judaism from Christianity 18th-century Jews from Bohemia People from Mikulov Year of birth missing 1730s deaths Yiddish-language writers {{Publish-bio-stub