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By R. Judah Ibn Tibbon with the commentary.
Israel b. Moses ha-Levi of Zamosc (c. 17001772), talmudist, mathematician, and one of the early Haskalah writers. Born in Bobrka, Galicia, he was raised in Zamosc, where he studied and later taught at the yeshivah. At the same time, he took up secular studies, especially mathematics. In 1740 Zamosc went to Germany where he published Nezah Yisrael (Frankfort on the Oder, 1741), one of the first attempts to use secular knowledge in interpreting biblical and talmudic literature. For several years he lived in Berlin, under the patronage of the wealthy Daniel Itzig (Jaffe), and was one of the founders of the Haskalah movement. One of his pupils was Moses Mendelssohn to whom he taught astronomy and mathematics, and through whom he met non-Jewish writers and scholars (including Lessing who mentions him in a letter to Mendelssohn). His dedication to the Haskalah movement aroused the ire of Jewish religious fanatics, and he was compelled to move from place to place in Germany and in Poland, settling finally in Brody, where he died. His secular studies led him to an interest in Jewish medieval literature, and in addition to Nezah Yisrael he also published a commentary to Sefer Ru'ah Hen, attributed to Judah ibn Tibbon, on the philosophical terms and foreign words in Maimonides' Guide (Jessnitz, 1744).
Among his works published posthumously, Nezed ha-Dema, a didactic work in poetical prose (Dyhernfurth, 1773; Lyck, 1862), is said by some scholars to show philosophical tendencies opposing Hasidism. Other writings published posthumously are: Ozar Nehmad (Vienna, 1796), a commentary on the Kuzari by Judah Halevi; and Tuv ha-Levanon (Vienna, 1809), a commentary on Bahya ibn Paquda's Hovot ha-Levavot. Another work, Millin de-Rabbanan, attributed to Zamosc for a long time, has been shown by H. Liebermann (KS, 28 (1952/53), 416) to be of different authorship. Several articles on astronomy and general sciences were left in manuscript.
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