- Judah Leon Templo
Jacob Judah Aryeh Leon Templo (born 1603 in
Hamburg , died after 1675) was a "ḥakam ", translator of thePsalms , and expert onheraldry , ofMarano descent.He was son of
Abraham de Leon . He became "ḥakam" inMiddelburg and, after 1643, inAmsterdam , where he was engaged also as teacher in theTalmud Torah . He vocalized the entire "Mishnah " which was printed in 1646 at the establishment ofManasseh ben Israel , with the anonymous collaboration ofAdam Boreel .Jacob Judah caused a great stir by a plan, drawn by him, of
Solomon's Temple . It was exhibited beforeCharles II of England . The author published a short, comprehensive description in Spanish entitled "Retrato del Templo de Selomoh". (Middelburg, 1642). This was translated into Dutch in the same year; into French in 1643; and by himself into Hebrew in 1650, with the title "Tabnit Hekal".Duke August of Brunswick , and more particularly his wife Elizabeth, wished a German translation of this description and entrusted the task toJohann Saubert ofHelmstädt . Some one else published such a translation in 1665, and Saubert therefore wrote a Latin translation in that year. An English version appeared in 1778, done byM. P. Decastro , a relative of Templo's, and in whose possession the plan was then held.In 1647 Jacob Judah wrote "Tratado de la Arca del Testamento" (Amsterdam, 1653). His treatise on the
cherubim , their form and nature, written in Latin in 1647, appeared in Spanish under the title "Tratado de los Cherubim" (Amsterdam, 1654); and his description ofMoses' tabernacle , written in 1647 in Dutch, was published under the title "Retrato del Tabernaculo de Moseh" (Amsterdam, 1654), and in English (1675). His last work was a Spanish paraphrase of the Psalms, which was printed with the text, under the title "Las Alabanças de Santitad" (Amsterdam, 1671), and, as is stated in the introduction, was written in seven months. The work was dedicated toIsaac Senior Teixéyra , financial agent, in Hamburg, ofQueen Christina of Sweden , and was praised by many ḥakamim, scholars, and poets in Hebrew, Latin, and Spanish verses.Jacob Judah wrote also a dialogue ("Colloquium Middelburgense") between a rabbi and a Christian scholar on the value of the Christian dogmas; and he left in manuscript "Disputaciones con Diferentes Theologos de la Cristiandad".
He was a skilful draftsman. The coat of arms of the
English Grand Lodge of Masons with the motto , now "Holiness to the Lord," is the work of the "famous and learned Hebrewist, architect, and brother, Rabi Jacob Jehudah Leon." He drew also more than 200 figures and vignettes to illustrate Talmudical subjects, which his son Solomon gave toSurenhusius for his Latin translation of the "Mishnah".References
*
Giovanni Bernardo De Rossi -C. H. Hamberger , Hist. Wörterb. pp. 176 et seq.;
*Koenen, Geschiedenis der Joden in Nederland, p. 337;
*Jost, Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten, iii. 233;
*Heinrich Grätz , Gesch. x. 24, 200 et seq.;
*Transaction Jew. Hist. Soc. Eng. ii. 156 et seq.;
*Julius Fürst , Bibl. Jud. ii. 232 et seq.;
*Meyer Kayserling , Bibl. Esp.-Port.-Jud. pp. 58 et seq.External links
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=191&letter=L#606 Source]
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