Aguilar (Aguylar), Moses Raphaelde (Not Raphael Nor Raphael Moses)

Born probably in Portugal; died in Amsterdam, Dec. 15, 1679. He was ḥakam and principal of the Talmud Torah at Amsterdam. In 1642 he went with Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, as ḥazan, to Brazil, where he remained till the reconquest of that country by the Portuguese, when he returned to Amsterdam and was reappointed to his former position. At the Talmud Torah he taught Talmud and Hebrew grammar. His mastery of Hebrew was so complete that he used this language in conversations with his pupils. He was a friend of the wealthy Abraham Israel Pereyra, for whose chief literary work he wrote an approbation (haskamah). For several years they were both adherents of Shabbethai Ẓebi. Aguilar continued in his office for forty years until his death. He left a large library, the catalogue of which was printed at Amsterdam in 1680. He published "Epitome da Grammatica Hebrayca" (Leyden, 1660), a second edition of which appeared at Amsterdam in 1661, under the title "Compendio da Epitome Grammatica," with a treatise on Hebrew poetry. He also wrote "Dinim de Sehita e Bedica," which was published at Amsterdam, 1681. It is said that he left about twenty Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew works in manuscript, "Tratado da Immortalidade da Alma" (manuscript of twenty pages quarto) being among them.

M. K.