Moses ben Mevorakh
MOSES BEN MEVORAKH
MOSES BEN MEVORAKH (12th century), leader of Egyptian Jewry. He was the *nagid of Egyptian Jewry from c. 1110 to before 1141, having been appointed to the position after the death of his father, the nagid*Mevorakh. He was assisted by his two sons, Mevorakh and Judah, who acted as "vice negidim." In his time the Jews of Egypt were oppressed, and he intervened in their favor. A kinah on his mother's death, which appears to have been written by him, has been preserved in the Cairo *Genizah. On her death, which made an impression on Egyptian Jewry, another kinah is known to have been written by Ẓedakah b. Judah. From the kinah of Moses, it appears that he was influenced by the poets of the Spanish school, an influence evident in Ẓedakah's kinah as well. A poem written in his honor by Abraham b. Shabbetai of Minyat Zifta, Egypt, which was found among the manuscripts of the Genizah, has also been published by J. Mann (see bibliography).
bibliography:
Mann, Egypt, 1 (1920), 210, 213; 2 (1922), 255–59; J.H. Schirmann, Shirim Ḥadashim min ha-Genizah (1965), 97–102.