Moses ben Hanoch or Moses ben Enoch (in he, משה בן חנוך, ''Moshe ben Hanoch'') was a medieval

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

who inadvertently became the preeminent

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

ic scholar of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. He died about 965. Moses was one of the four scholars who went from

Sura A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...

, the seat of a once flourishing but then declining Talmudic academy, in order to collect contributions for that school. During a voyage from

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, on the coast of

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, they were captured by the

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admiral Ibn Rumahis, who, according to the legend, became enamored of the beautiful young wife of Moses. In distress she asked her husband in Hebrew whether those who were drowned in the sea could look forward to resurrection, and when he answered, in the words of the

psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

, "The Lord saith, I will bring again from

Bashan Bashan (; he, הַבָּשָׁן, translit=ha-Bashan; la, Basan or ''Basanitis'') is the ancient, biblical name used for the northernmost region of the Transjordan during the Iron Age. It is situated in modern-day Syria. Its western part, now ...

, I will bring them again from the depths of the sea," she cast herself into the waters and was

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ed. Moses was taken to Cordova with his young son Hanoch, where he was redeemed by the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community, in the year 945 or 948. While there, he went to the schoolhouse where he acted as a server, and sat in the corner listening quietly to the Talmudic discourse of the judge and rabbi, Nathan. At the time, the Jews of Cordoba were not well versed in the methodology of study of Talmud due to the centralization of Torah study in Babylon. Some of Rav Nathan's remarks attracted attention, and Moses' detailed explanation of the passage quoted by Nathan, his use of Rabbinic Aramaic and his ready answers to all questions addressed to him astonished the whole assembly. Nathan, therefore, on that very day voluntarily resigned his office and confessed himself Moses' pupil. The wealthy community of Cordova showed Moses much honor and immediately elected him rabbi.

Hasdai ibn Shaprut Hasdai (Abu Yusuf ben Yitzhak ben Ezra) ibn Shaprut ( he, חסדאי אבן שפרוט; ar, حسداي بن شبروط, Abu Yussuf ibn Shaprut) born about 915 at Jaén, Spain; died about 970 at Córdoba, Andalusia, was a Jewish scholar, ph ...

, rejoicing at this event, induced the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

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Abd al-Rahman III ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Rabdī ibn Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dākhil () or ʿAbd al-Rahmān III (890 - 961), was the Umayyad Emir of Córdoba from 912 to 92 ...

to order Ibn Rumahis to forgo the higher ransom which he, in consequence, was demanding for Moses. Moses organized an important school at Cordova, which was independent of the gaonate and was attended by many pupils; and through him Cordova became the seat of Jewish scholarship.

Bibliography

*''Sefer ha-Ḳabbalah'', ed. Amsterdam, p. 41a; *Jost, ''Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten'', ii. 399 et seq.; *Frankel's ''Zeitschrift für die Religiösen Interessen des Judenthums'', ii. 100 et seq., iii. 397 et seq., 422 et seq.; *Grätz, ''Gesch''. v. 336, 347 et seq., 542 et seq.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moses ben Hanoch 960s deaths Year of death uncertain Year of birth unknown 10th-century rabbis in al-Andalus Talmudists