Creator Bio
Solomon Molkho
1500–1532
Born Diogo Pires to converso parents in Portugal, Solomon Molkho was inspired by David Reuveni’s visit there to circumcise himself and take a Jewish name. He and Reuveni (an adventurer and messianic prophet who claimed royal descent) subsequently fled the country. Molkho studied kabbalah and preached, especially about the near arrival of the Messiah; he later came to see himself as the Messiah. In 1530, he met Reuveni again, and in 1532 the two traveled to Regensburg for an audience with the Holy Roman emperor, Charles V. Unimpressed, Charles had Molkho taken to Mantua and burned at the stake. Molkho’s influence continued after his death; his ephemera was kept, like relics, in the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague.
Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator
Primary Source
Signature of Solomon Molkho
Solomon Molkho, the sixteenth-century messianic pretender, included a sketch of his own fanciful flag in his signature. His flag, modeled after those of the Maccabees, included the Hebrew word “Macabi…
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Derashot (Sermons)
And now I will reveal to you why we call the Sabbath before Passover “the Great Sabbath.”
Know that the minister of Egypt is Aries [the ram], and Scorpio, which is with Aries, and its angel is Samael…
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On Circumambulating a Church
I heard directly from those who say that a text exists which states that the wise and upright R. Solomon wished to spur the end of times and he wanted all to agree with his viewpoint. And he said that…
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Ḥayat kaneh (Wild Beast of the Reed)
A scion from Portugal by the name of Solomon Molkho sprouted forth from the trunk of Israel [see Isaiah 11:1] and spent his youth among the scribes of the king—where they had been scattered since the…