Moses Hagiz

Moses Hagiz ( Hebrew משה חגיז Mošeh H̱agīz / transcribed differently: Moscheh Chagis ; * 1670 in Jerusalem ; † probably 1750 in Beirut ) was a rabbi , Talmudist , Kabbalist and censor .

Live and act

Moses Hagiz was a son of the rabbi Jakob Chagis . Like his father, his grandfather Moses Galante worked all his life to improve the reputation of rabbis and was committed to studying secular sciences. Moses Hagiz worked as a wandering preacher and rabbi. He visited Egypt , Venice , London , Amsterdam and Altona . On his travels he criticized assimilatory currents and heresy . He used harsh words against Shabbtai Zvi and his followers and, like Zwi Hirsch Aschkenasi, criticized the Sabbatianism taught by Zvi . Hagiz criticized the book Mahimnuta dekola by Rabbi Nehemia Hiya Harun, who lived in Holland and who said Hagiz spread Sabbatian heresies. Together with Schabbtai Zvi, Hagiz was forced to leave Amsterdam in 1714. From there they traveled together to London.

Hagiz came to Hamburg around 1718 and seven years later moved to Altona, where he lived until 1738. There he made the acquaintance of Jakob Emden , who was a son of Shabbtai Zvis. Although both were friends, Emden wrote in his book Megillat Sefer that he doubted Hagiz's religious seriousness.

In addition to Emden, Hagiz maintained contacts in particular with Chief Rabbi Jehezkel Katzenellenbogen and Johann Christian Wolf . Wolf felt sympathy for Hagiz because of his knowledge of allegedly seven languages. During his time in Altona, Hagiz and Katzenellenbogen took action against Sabbatianism. In 1726 he wrote about this Hivya Derabanan . Hagiz worked as a censor and proofreader and made a living from it. The Hamburger Three community moved in Hamburg, Wandsbek and Altona only books that Hagiz had previously tested. In 1726 he wrote a commentary on the Mishna with Leket ha-Kemah . Israel ben Abraham relocated the factory in Wandsbek and began a career as a printer. Hagiz's son, who was named like his grandfather Moses, worked in his workshop.

After his time in Altona, Hagiz moved to Sidon , then to Safed. He emigrated with a "Latin travel passport for Moses Chajes, rabbi, to Jerusalem", signed by the Danish king.

literature

• Michael Studemund-Halévy : Hagiz, Moses . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 5 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0640-0 , p. 163-164 .