Life
Moses de Leon (c. 1240–1305) was a Spanish kabbalist who circulated the Zohar, the vast mystical commentary on the Torah that became the foundational work of Kabbalah. He presented it as the ancient teaching of the second-century sage Shimon bar Yochai; scholars, following an early inquiry into its language and ideas, widely regard de Leon as its principal author or compiler, though the question is still debated and traditionalists hold to its ancient origin. Whatever its authorship, the Zohar reshaped Jewish mysticism and devotion for centuries; the perspectives on its origin are noted without verdict.