Biography
Rabbi Moshe ben Shem Tov de Leon (c. 5000/1240–5065/1305) was a mekubal of Castile, and the figure through whom the Sefer HaZohar came to light in the world. Born in the kingdom of Leon in Spain, he spent some thirty years in Guadalajara and Valladolid before settling in Avila, and was niftar at Arevalo in 1305 while returning home. He learned among the great mekubalim of Spain of his day, the circles of Rabbi Todros Abulafia and Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla.
He wrote many sefarim in kabbalah under his own name — among those printed are HaNefesh HaChachamah, Shekel HaKodesh, Sefer HaRimon, Mishkan HaEdut and Shoshan Edut — works that circulated among the mekubalim of Spain and beyond.
His name, however, is bound forever to the Zohar: in his later years he became known as the one who revealed the sefer, teaching it as the Torah of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, copying and spreading its words among the chachamim of the hidden wisdom in the communities of Spain. In the generations that followed, and above all after the Zohar was printed in the sixteenth century, the sefer he brought to light became the foundation of all study of the hidden Torah.
Where traditions differ. Since the nineteenth century, academic scholars have attributed the authorship of the Zohar to Rabbi Moshe de Leon himself, building on a report brought in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak of Acco. The mesorah of the mekubalim — defended at length by Rabbi David Luria in his Kadmus Sefer HaZohar — holds the Zohar to be the Torah of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his circle, which Rabbi Moshe brought to light from manuscript.
הרב משה בן שם טוב די לאון היה מקובל ספרדי שהפיץ לראשונה את ספר הזוהר, החיבור הנפוץ ביותר בתורת הקבלה. חיבור זה יוחס על ידו לתנא רבי שמעון בר יוחאי. טענה זו הייתה בסיס לפולמוס בדורו ובדורות שאחריו, בין הוגים, רבנים וחוקרים שראו ברמד"ל עצמו את מחברו האמיתי של הספר, לבין אלו ששללו את האפשרות כי די ליאון חיבר את הזוהר לבדו. החל מהמאה ה-16 התקבל ייחוסו של הזוהר לרשב"י בעולם היהודי וזו התפיסה הנפוצה כיום ביהדות האורתודוקסית, אך מרבית החוקרים כיום סבורים כי הוא נכתב סמוך לפרסומו, על ידי קבוצת כותבים שרמד"ל הוא אחד מהם.
Moses de León, known in Hebrew as Moshe ben Shem-Tov, was a Spanish rabbi and Kabbalist who first publicized the Zohar. Modern scholars believe the Zohar is his own work, despite his claim to have copied it out of an ancient manuscript by Shimon ben Yochai. His other works include Sefer ha-Rimon, written in Hebrew, and hundreds of pseudepigraphic responsa, commentaries, and Kabbalistic tracts which he falsely attributed to earlier authorities.
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