Belmonte, Moses

Poet and translator; eighth child of Jacob Belmonte; born 1619; died at Amsterdam May 29, 1647. He was a pupil of Saul Morteira, whose sermons ("Gib'at Sha'ul," 1645) he edited together with Benjamin Diaz. His poem "Argumenta Contra os Noserim" has been reprinted by De Castro in his "Keur van Grafsteenen," p. 58. He translated the Song of Songs into Spanish. It was published in Hebrew characters in several editions of the Bible printed at Venice; then in Amsterdam, 1644, under the title "Paraphrasis Caldaica en los Cantares de Selomo con el Texto; Traduzida en Lengua Española." He also translated the Pirḳe Abot into Spanish ("Perakym," Amsterdam, 1644).

Belmonte founded the society Gemilut Ḥasadim in 1639.

Bibliography:

  * Kayserling, Sephardim, pp. 290, 359;
  * idem, in Revue Etudes Juives, xviii. 284;
  * idem, Biblioteca Españ.-Portug.-Judaica, pp. 27, 72;
  * De Rossi-Hamburger, Hist. Wörterbuch, p. 55;
  * Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. No. 6434;
  * De Castro, Keur van Grafsteenen op de Nederl.-Portug.-Israel-Begraafplaats te Oudekerk, p. 56.



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