Moses ben Joseph ben Merwan ha-Levi (Also known as Moses Halavi or ha-Lawi or simply, Allawi) flourished about the mid-12th century and was a prominent Provençal rabbi,

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, and

talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ist.

Biography

He was a nephew and pupil of Isaac ben Merwan ha-Levi. His colleagues addressed him as "Great scholar, Nasi Rabbi Moses," and his ritual decisions and Talmudic comments are often quoted. He directed the

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

at Narbonne, and several of his pupils subsequently achieved fame.

Abraham ben David Abraham ben David ( – 27 November 1198), also known by the abbreviation RABaD (for ''Rabbeinu'' Abraham ben David) Ravad or RABaD III, was a Provençal ḥakham, an important commentator on the Talmud, ''Sefer Halachot'' of Isaac Alfasi, an ...

and Zerachiah ha-Levi of Girona were among his pupils. He was in continuous correspondence with his younger colleague Abraham ben Isaac of Narbonne, the av bet din, who was his pupil and who, by preference, sought Moses' advice in difficult casuistic questions. He was well regarded by several rabbis such as: Isaac Abarbanel, Hasdai Crescas, Joseph Albo, and Joseph Ibn Waqar (all of whom quote him). Jacob ben Moses of Bagnols quotes a document relating to a divorce drawn up at Narbonne in 1134 and signed by the "great rabbi Moses ben Joseph and by Eliezer ben Zechariah." Gross identifies Moses ben Joseph with Moses ben Joseph ben Merwan ha-Levi. If this identification is correct, Moses was one of the foremost cabalists of southern France, as Jacob's words in the passage cited indicate. However, Moses is not otherwise known as a mystic.

Works

* ''Ma'amar Elohi'': A treatise encompassing the motion of 'the outermost sphere', the Prime Mover or

First Cause The unmoved mover () or prime mover () is a concept advanced by Aristotle as a primary Causality (physics), cause (or first uncaused cause) or "Motion (physics), mover" of all the motion in the universe. As is implicit in the name, the moves oth ...

, and the intellect or the consciousness of God, and their unity. Originally written in

Judeo-Arabic Judeo-Arabic (; ; ) sometimes referred as Sharh, are a group of different ethnolects within the branches of the Arabic language used by jewish communities. Although Jewish use of Arabic, which predates Islam, has been in some ways distinct ...

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

. He relied exclusively on Islamic philosophers like

al-Farabi file:A21-133 grande.webp, thumbnail, 200px, Postage stamp of the USSR, issued on the 1100th anniversary of the birth of Al-Farabi (1975) Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi (; – 14 December 950–12 January 951), known in the Greek East and Latin West ...

and

Averroes Ibn Rushd (14 April 112611 December 1198), archaically Latinization of names, Latinized as Averroes, was an Arab Muslim polymath and Faqīh, jurist from Al-Andalus who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astron ...

. Three manuscripts exist. Assuming that Steinschneider's identification is correct, Allawi may have also contributed a work on musical harmonies, quoted by Shemtov Shaprut b. Isaac of Tudela in his commentary on

Avicenna Ibn Sina ( – 22 June 1037), commonly known in the West as Avicenna ( ), was a preeminent philosopher and physician of the Muslim world, flourishing during the Islamic Golden Age, serving in the courts of various Iranian peoples, Iranian ...

's Canon (Munich, Ms. Hebr. 8, fol. 330b), describing the mathematical relations of musical intervals as well as some arithmetical operations carried out with them.

References

* Henri Gross, ''Gallia Judaica'', p. 413. {{DEFAULTSORT:Moses Ben Joseph Ben Merwan Ha-Levi 12th-century French rabbis Rabbis from Narbonne Levites French Orthodox rabbis

Biography

Works

See also

References