Works
Leon was a prolific writer, and produced works in many branches of secular science, as well as on distinctively Jewish subjects. With the exception of two, all remained unpublished. Most of them are no longer extant, and are known only from quotations. Leon preferred to clothe his philosophy in the garb of the Kabbalah, in which he was an adept; but he was too much of a philosopher to become involved in the abysses of mysticism. In his kabbalistic work Magen David, still extant in manuscript, he freely quotes the Greek and the Arabic philosophers. For him Plato was the greatest kabbalist. This philosopher, Leon claimed, lived at the time of the prophet Jeremiah, who was his teacher.
Leon wrote also the following works: Abir Ya'aḳob, on medicine and other sciences; Sefer ha-Derashot, sermons arranged in the order of the sections of the Torah (according to Neubauer, it is identical with the Tif'eret Adam quoted in Leon's commentary on Lamentations); Menorat ha-Zahab, also extant in manuscript, probably a haggadic commentary on Lamentations; Ein ha-Kore, a commentary on the Moreh Nebukim, criticizing the commentary of Isaac Abravanel; Miktam le-Dawid, a kabbalistic work mentioned in the Ein ha-Kore; Sod ha-Gemul, in which he shows that the Israelites, unlike other nations, are not under a special sign of the zodiac; refutations of Albo's criticisms of Aristotle; Shebaḥ ha-Nashim, still extant in manuscript (according to Steinschneider, "Hebr. Bibl." xix.83, identical with the commentary on Prov. xxxi); Tehillah le-Dawid (published by the author's grandson Aaron le-Bet David, Constantinople, 1577), in three parts: (1) on the excellence of the Law; (2) on the elements of faith, which latter is superior to speculative reasoning; (3) on the principles of God, the divine attributes, providence, free will, etc.; a halakic decision on the ritual question which caused the division of the various congregations of Avlona, published by S. Bernfeld, under the title Kebod Ḥakamim, Berlin, 1899 (Meḳiẓe Nirdamim).
Leon was considered as a high Talmudic authority, and was consulted on halakic questions. Two of his decisions have been preserved (Elijah Mizraḥi, Responsa, No. 47; Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS." No. 834). In one of his works Leon mentions a commentary of his own on Moses of Coucy's Sefer Mitzvot Gadol ("Semag"). Parma MS. de Rossi No. 1395 ("Cat. Perreau," No. 19) contains a scientific treatise by Leon. In the introduction to this treatise Leon says that he wrote many poems in Hebrew and in the "Christian language," meaning thereby Latin or Italian. Shabbethai Bass, without indicating any source, gives, in his Sifte Yeshenim, the following titles of works attributed to Leon: Bet Dawid; Kisse Dawid; Nefesh Dawid; Ḳol Adonai ba-Koaḥ; and Naḥal 'Adanim.
Read more about this topic: David Ben Judah Messer Leon
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