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