JOSEPH (Jossel) BEN JOSHUA MOSES OF FRANKFURT

JOSEPH (Jossel) BEN JOSHUA MOSES OF FRANKFURT (d. 1681), German dayyan. Joseph was born in Frankfurt. Until his death he served as dayyan in Fuerth. He was the author of Torat Yosef (Wilmersdorf, 1725), which contains homilies and explanations of the masorah and achieved considerable fame. In the preface he points out that in earlier generations people had a wide knowledge of Scripture, with the result that the meaning of the Masorah was plain to all, but that this had changed during recent generations. The aim of the book was to explain the Masorah on the Torah in accordance with the halakhah, as well as to explain Rashi's commentary, and to justify statements of his which had been queried by later commentators. In his preface, Joseph mentions his work on the 613 commandments, Torat Moshe (in manuscript), which he named after his father "who gave his life on my behalf, as is known to all my father's family in Frankfurt." -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Loewenstein, in: JJLG, 8 (1911), 117. (Yehoshua Horowitz)