משה בן אברהם

Rav Moshe ben Avraham of Przemysl (c. 5311/1551–5366/1606), surnamed Mat — in the Ashkenazi mouth, Mes — is known to all generations as the Mateh Moshe, after his sefer. He was born in Przemysl in Poland; his father Rav Avraham was killed al kiddush Hashem while Moshe was yet a child. He became a talmid of the Maharshal, Rav Shlomo Luria, whose halachot and hanhagot he brings throughout his writings, and learned as well under his uncle Rav Tzvi.

At twenty-two he composed Taryag Mitzvot (Cracow 5341/1581), the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot set in rhyme. He served as rav of Belz, where he founded a yeshiva that drew many talmidim; on leaving Belz he lived by his father-in-law Rav Shmuel in Ludmir, and there wrote his main work. He was afterward called to the rabbanut of his native Przemysl, then of Lubomyl, and at the end of his life stood at the head of the kehillah of Apta (Opatow) and served as district rav of Cracow, sitting as well on the Va’ad Arba Aratzot.

The Mateh Moshe, completed in 5345 and printed in Cracow in 5351/1590–91, is a sefer of practical halachah and minhag that brings many rulings and hanhagot in the name of his rebbi the Maharshal. His Ho’il Moshe (Prague 5371/1611) is a commentary on the Chumash in two parts, Be’er Heitev and Be’er HaTorah, turning at times to explain the words of Rashi, with a peirush on the Megillot, Be’er Moshe, printed at its end in 5372/1612; teshuvot of his are found in the collections of the poskim of his generation. Among his talmidim was Rav Shabtai Sofer, baal of the famed siddur. He was niftar in Apta in 5366/1606.