Moses Ha-Kohen Of Corfu

Greek Talmudist and liturgical poet; flourished at the end of the sixteenth century. He was the author of"Yashir Mosheh" (Mantua, 1612), consisting of (1) a versification of the Book of Esther and of the midrashic legends connected with it, recited by the Jews of Corfu on Shabbat Zakor (see an example in "Orient, Lit." iv. 486), and of (2) "Mi-Kamokah," recited on Yom Kippur. It seems that Moses was either rabbi or head of the yeshibah of Corfu, for David Maẓah, the editor of the "Yashir Mosheh," says, in the introduction to that work, that he was a pupil of Moses ha-Kohen. He says also that Moses composed a great number of other liturgical poems, and a commentary on the Targum entitled "Patshegen Ketab ha-Dat."

Bibliography:

  * Dukes, in Orient, Lit. v. 452;
  * Fürst, Bibl. Jud. i. 188;
  * Landshuth, 'Ammude ha-'Abodah, p. 258;
  * Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1845;
  * idem, Jewish Literature, pp. 233, 244.



W. B. M. Sel.