Moses ben Menahem Graf
MOSES BEN MENAHEM GRAF
MOSES BEN MENAHEM GRAF (also known as Moses Praeger ; 1650–1700/1710), kabbalist born in Prague. After the conflagration in the Prague ghetto (1689), Moses moved to Nikolsburg (Mikulov), where he studied under the kabbalist Eliezer Mendel b. Mordecai. He was given lodging and support by David *Oppenheim, who, like Samson *Wertheimer of Vienna, encouraged the publication of his writings. Leaving Nikolsburg, Moses attempted to settle in various European cities, reaching Fuerth in 1696 and Dessau in 1698. It is not certain whether he died there or whether he returned to Prague in his later years. Moses' published works include: Zera Kodesh, a kabbalistic work with an appendix describing the exorcism of a dibbuk in Nikolsburg (Fuerth, 1696); a second edition, without the dibbuk story, was published by Simeon b. David Abiob of Hebron, together with his Bat Melekh (Venice, 1712; reprinted Munkacz, 1893); and Va-Yakhel Moshe, a kabbalistic discussion of various portions of the Zohar and of the Adam de-Aẓilut, with a special commentary on the latter concept entitled Masveh Moshe, introduced and annotated by Samuel b. Solomon Kohen, cantor in Brody (Dessau, 1699). In this last work Moses often criticizes the teachings of Moses *Cordovero and his followers.
bibliography:
J. Guenzig, Die Wundermaenner im juedischen Volke (1921), 102–6.
[Joseph Elijah Heller]