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' Places * Czech, ...

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

printer and author who was a Christian

convert to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( he, גיור, ''giyur'') is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. " ...

. His father, Jacob, was also a convert. Moses was born at Nikolsburg (now

Mikulov Mikulov (; german: Nikolsburg; yi, ניקאלשבורג, ''Nikolshburg'') is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,400 inhabitants. The historic centre of Mikulov is well preserved and ...

). He became a native of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, and was circumcised at

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. 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 Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

translation of

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

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

Passover Haggadah The Haggadah ( he, הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder._According_to_Jewish_practice,_reading_the_Haggadah_at_the_Seder_table_is_a_fulfillment_of_the_mitzvah.html" ;"tit ...

, 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 The ten lost tribes were the ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire BCE. These are the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Ashe ...

, having collected the material from a number of sources, particularly from Abraham Farissol and

Gedaliah ibn Yahya Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph (Hebrew: גדליה אבן יחיא בן יוסף; – 1587) was a 16th-century Italian Talmudist and Biblical chronologist chiefly known for his Biblical Chronology "Shalshelet HaḲabbalah". Biography Born in I ...

. 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.

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
Dutch publishers (people) German publishers (people) Converts to Judaism from Christianity People from Mikulov Year of birth missing 1730s deaths {{Publish-bio-stub