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Moses Botarel was a Spanish scholar who lived in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He was a pupil ofJacob Sefardi (the Spaniard), who instructed him in theKabbala.
Moses studied medicine and philosophy; the latter, he regarded as a divine science which teaches the same doctrines as the Cabala, using a different language and different terms to designate the same objects. He extolledAristotle as a sage, applying to him theTalmudic sentence, "A wise man is better than a prophet," and he censured his contemporaries for keeping aloof from the divine teachings of philosophy. He believed in the efficacy ofamulets andcameos, and declared that he was able to combine the names of God for magical purposes, so that he was generally considered asorcerer. He stated that by means of fasting, ablution, and invocation of the names of God and of the angels prophetic dreams could be induced. He also stated that the prophetElijah had appeared to him and appointed him asMessiah. In this role he addressed a circular letter to all the rabbis, asserting that he was able to solve all perplexities, and asking them to send all doubtful questions to him. In this letter (printed by Dukes inOrient, Lit. 1850, p. 825) Botarel refers to himself as a well-known and prominent rabbi, a saint, and the most pious of the pious. Many believed in his miracles, including the philosopherHasdai Crescas.
Botarel was one of those who attended thedisputation at Tortosa (1413–1414), and he is said to have written a polemic againstGeronimo de Santa Fe. In 1409, at the request of theChristian scholarMaestro Juan, Botarel composed a commentary on theSefer Yezirah. In the preface, he excuses himself for having revealed the divine mysteries of this work to Maestro Juan by quoting the saying of the sages that a non-Jew who studies the Torah is equal to a high priest. In his commentary, he quotes earlier cabalistic works, including some ascribed to the old authorities, such as the amoraRav Ashi. Botarel's commentary on theSefer Yeẓirah was printed at Mantua in 1562, with the text and with other commentaries; it was republished at Zolkiev, 1745; Grodno, 1806; and Wilna, 1820.
This Moses Botarel is notMoses ben Leon Botarel, who lived atConstantinople in the 16th century and wrote theEn Mishpat, containing predictions and being a free paraphrase of aLatin work ofMichael Nostradamus.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Moses Botarel".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
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