XXII.

JACOB JUDAH ARYEH D̅E LEON

_Haham_ Jacob Judah Aryeh _de_ Leon [Templo] of _marrano_ origin, was born in Hamburgh in 1603. Here for some years he was teacher in _Hebrew_ and _Rabbinics_ to the _Kahal Kadosh de Talmud Torah_. Subsequently he was appointed _Haham_ of Middelburgh in Holland, where in 1642 he published tracts in Spanish¹ and Dutch,² describing a model he had constructed of Solomon’s Temple. Shortly after he settled in Amsterdam and resumed his tutorial profession, and it was here that a French version³ of the tract was published, and seven years later a _Hebrew_ edition appeared,⁴ translated by the Author from his original Spanish. Versions in German,⁵ Latin,⁶ and _Ladino_⁷ have also been issued at various times. In anticipation of his visit to London to exhibit his model before Charles II. (1630‒1685) and his Court, he prepared an essay in English, which was printed and published in Amsterdam,⁸ describing the model of Solomon’s Temple, and also that of the Tabernacle of Moses, of which he had also constructed a model. It was again on view here in the years 1759 and 1760.⁹ In 1778 it was in the possession of a Mr. M. P. Decastro, who claimed to be a near relation of _Haham de_ Leon. He exhibited the model here, and translated and published the essay describing it,¹⁰ which he tells us was “First printed in _Hebrew_ and Spanish.”¹¹

¹ Retrato Del Templo De Selomo.... _Compuesto, por_ Iaacob Ievda Leon Hebreo, _vezino de Middelburgo, en la Provincia de Zelanda_.

En el Año de 5402 ala creacion del Mundo.

En Middelbvrgo, En Casa de la Biuda y Heredeos de Symon Moulert Imprimidor de los Estados de Zelanda. M.DC.XLII.

(_4to._ 4 _ll._ + 48 _pp._ [Bodleian.])

² Afbeeldinghe Vanden Tempel Salomonis, ... Door Iaacob Iehvda Leon Ebreo.

Tot Middelburgh, By de Weduwe ende Erfsgenamen van Symon Moulert, Ordinaris Drucker vande Ed: Mog: Heeren Staten van Zeelandt. Anno 1642.

(_4to._ 4 _ll._ + 49 _pp._ + folded etching “El Templo de Selomoh,” _etc._ _etc._ [B. M.])

Reissued at Amsterdam in 1644. [I. S.]

A fourth edition published at Amsterdam in 1669 [Bodleian].

³ Portraict dv Temple de Salomon, ... Composé par Iacob Iuda Leon Hebreu, habitant de Middelbourg en la Province de Zelande.

L’an de la creation du Monde 5403.

A Amsterdam, Imprimé chez Jean Frederick Stam, à l’Esperance,

ͻlͻ. lͻ. c. xliii. (_4to._ 6 _ll._ + 88 _pp._ [I. S.])

⁴‏ ספר תבנית היכל ... חברו בלשון לעז וגם העתיקו ללשון הקדש החכם ... כמהרר יעקב יהודה ארי ... נדפס פה אמשטרדם שנת ה׳ בהיכל קֹדֹשׂוֹ ה׳ בשמים כסאו לפ״ק .‏.‏.‏ (4ᵗᵒ 2 + לח _ll._ [i.s])

Two hundred and ten years later, it was reissued at Warsaw with an “approbation” of Samuel Mohilewer, the great Zionist, who at the time was Chief _Rabbi_ of Suwalk.

⁵ Traktat des Jak. Jeh. Leonis von dem Tempel Salomonis. Aus dem Holländischen ausgefertigt: Hannover, 1665, 8º.

(Bibliotheca Judaica.... Julius Fürst ... Leipzig ... 1849, _p._ 232.)

⁶ Jacobi Jehvdæ Leonis De Templo Hierosolymitano, ... ex Ebræo Latinè recensiti à Johanne Savberto ... Helmæstadt Impressit Jacobvs Mvllervs ϲlͻ. lͻ ϲ. lxv.

(_4to._ Eng. Frontis. [Augustus ... Dux Brunovicensis et Lunæburgensis ... Conr. Buno _fec._] + Eng. Title-page + A‒D in _fours_ [c⁴: Jacobi Yehudæ Leonis Hebræi. Conr. Buno _fec._] + ): (in _fours_ + 211 _pp._ [incorrectly numbered 203 _pp._] + at _p._ 35 _folio_ folded sheet with Latin text + _folio_ folded sheet of Temple plans + engraving of model of Solomon’s Temple, Palace and Fort Antonio, with explanatory details in Dutch + at _p._ 94, engraving of the “Priestly garments” + at _p._ 168, engraving of Holy Vessels, Candelabrum, _etc._ + at _p._ 179, engraving of “Ark of Testimony.” [I. S.])

It was reissued at Altdorph in 1674. [I. S.]

⁷‏ ליב׳רו די לה פ׳ורמה די איל פאלאסייו-לייאמאדו לשון הקדש תבנית היכל ... הרב יעקב יאודה אריה זצוק״ל תח״מ אדונינו המלך שולטן עבדול עז״ז סאן יר״ה שאלוניקו אין ד״ 5636 איסתאמפאריאה די קופת עץ החיים יב״ץ׃ (8º. 120 _pp._ [B. M.])

⁸ A Relation | Of the most memorable thinges | In The Tabernacle | of Moses, | And The | Temple _of_ Salomon, |

_According to Text of Scripture._ |

By Jacob Jehudah Leon, Hebr. |

_Author of the Model of Salomon’s Temple._ |

At Amsterdam, | Printed by Peter Messchaert, in the Stoof-steech, 1675. |

(_4to._ 4 _ll._ + 27 _pp._) [I. S.]

⁹ Ahiman Rezon, Or a help to all that are or would be Free and Accepted Masons, ... the Second Edition. By Lau Dermott. Secretary.... London, 1764. (8º. Eng. Frontis. + xxxvi. + 224 _pp._ [Quatuor Coronati Lodge library]) _p._ xxxiv.

¹⁰ An Accurate Description Of the Grand and Glorious Temple of Solomon. In which are briefly Explain’d,

I. The Form of that Fabric. II. The Vessels and Instruments belonging thereto. III. The King’s Palace. IV. Fort Antonio, built for the Defence of the Temple.

First printed in Hebrew and Spanish at Middleburgh, By that celebrated Architect, Jacob Juda Lyon, In The Year MDCXLII.

Translated by M. P. Decastro, (Proprietor of the said Model, and a near Relation to the Author.)

London: Printed for the above Proprietor, by W. Bailey, _Wellclose-Square_. M.DCC.LXXVIII.

(8º. Eng. Frontis. [Jacobi Yehudæ Leonis Hebræi ... Salom Italia _Sculpsit_] + 2 _ll._ + iii. _pp._ + 1 _l._ [etchings of “Temple,” “Cherubim”] + 48 _pp._) [I. S.]

See “Jacob Jehudah Leon (Templo), by Israel Solomons,” _Jewish Chronicle_, 30 Oct., 1903.

¹¹ The tract was first printed in Spanish and Dutch in 1642, and not until 1650 did it appear in _Hebrew_.

Leon Templo,¹ as our _Haham_ is at times referred to, is supposed to have invented “The Arms of yᵉ most Ancient & Honorable Fraternity, of Free and Accepted Masons.” The original drawing was seen by Laurence Dermott (1720‒1791) when he saw the model of the Temple in 1759‒1760.² He also wrote on the “_Cherubim_” and on the “Ark of the Testimony.” In 1671 he issued the Psalms in _Hebrew_, with a Spanish paraphrase and notes. This was his last published work, in the preface of which he tells us that although he was then sixty-seven years of age, he completed the work in seven months, at times that he could spare from his tutorial duties. Four works in manuscript are still unpublished. After his death, among his sketches were found over two hundred designs to illustrate and elucidate Biblical and Rabbinical passages. These his son _Haham_ Solomon Raphael (_ob._ 1733 _circa_) _de_ Leon Templo presented to Willem Surenhuis, who had them engraved for his edition of the _Mishna_.³

¹ Templo was assumed as a surname by his descendants.

² Ahiman Rezon, _ibid._

³ Mischna sive Totius Hebræorum Juris, Rituum, Antiquitatum, ac Legum Oralium Systema, ... Guilielmus Surenhusius.... Amstelædami, ... [1698‒1703] (vi. vols. _fol._)

Biographers do not seem to know when and where he died. David Franco Mendes (1713‒1792) tells us that after his London visit he returned to Amsterdam, and although he gives a transcription of his epitaph, consisting of eight lines of _Hebrew_ laudatory verse, no date is mentioned.¹ Dr. M. Kayserling suggests that he died after 1675, that is after his London visit.² There is, however, good authority to surmise that he died in London during his visit.

(_Franco_) ‏ חפשיby ¹‏תולדות החכם מחו׳ יעקב יהודה ליאון זצ״ל ‏.רצז-שא _pp_. ‏ המאסף חדש סיון תקמה

² _Jewish Encyclopedia_, 1904, vol. viii. _p._ 1.