ALBELDA, MOSES BEN JACOB

ALBELDA, MOSES BEN JACOB (1500–before 1583), rabbi and philosopher. It is likely that Moses Albelda was born in Spain, and that he was the grandson of a Moses Albelda who settled in Salonika. He lived a life of hardship and wandering. He states that he acted as both dayyan and rosh yeshivah. He was rabbi of Arta (Greece) in 1534, and later of Valona (Albania). His sons, Judah and Abraham, went to considerable trouble to publish their father's works. These are characterized by a distinctive style and are eminently readable. His commentary and biblical expositions are mainly philosophical. His sermonic works are Reshit Da'at (Venice, 1583), discourses on philosophical themes and rabbinical dicta; Sha'arei Dimah (ibid., 1586), on such varied themes as Providence, the vicissitudes of the times, the death of the righteous, and the destruction of the Temple. His biblical works are in two parts, the first, Olat Tamid (ibid., 1601), exegetical, and the second, Darash Moshe (ibid., 1603) homiletical. These works mention a number of others that he wrote, including commentaries on Joshua, Esther, and Samuel, and on Maimonides' Guide and Sefer ha-Mitzvot. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Steinschneider, Cat Bod, 1768, no. 6427; JE, 1 (1901), 332.