Fragments on Astrology

Moses ha-Darshan was a communal leader and head of the talmudic academy in Narbonne, in southern France. Moses is primarily known for his contributions to midrashic literature, but he wrote scientific and exegetical works as well. His Greater Midrash on Genesis (Bereshit rabbati) was controversial in the medieval period and drew barbs from the anti-Jewish polemicist Raymond Martini (1220–1285). It includes quotations from the Apocrypha, including Jubilees and the books of Enoch, which had not been included in mainstream rabbinic literature for centuries. Moses was the teacher of Nathan ben Yeḥiel of Rome (1035–ca. 1110), author of the talmudic dictionary ‘Arukh.