Editing Benjamin Musaphia (section)

== Career ==
In 1646, while living in [[Glückstadt]], [[Holstein]], Musaphia was appointed royal physician to the Danish court by Christian IV.

Around 1648, probably in connection with the death of Christian IV, Musaphia went to Amsterdam and joined the college of rabbis. In 1655, he published an extended version of [[Nathan ben Jehiel]]'s [[Talmud]]ic dictionary ''Aruk''<ref name="Heller-2021" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Freudenthal |first=Gad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JgSL_SknwIYC&dq=binyamin+musafia&pg=PA398 |title=Science in Medieval Jewish Cultures |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-00145-9 |language=en}}</ref> (ca. 1100), titled ''Musaf he-'Aruk'', detailing many Jewish customs. The preface states that he had been collecting this information since a young boy. Musaphia was also working on a commentary of the Talmud in 1702, which was never published, and the manuscripts have since been lost.<ref>{{Citation |last=Miert |first=Dirk van |title='To the advantage of the Republic of Letters'? Guilielmus Surenhusius's Projects, Plans, and Collaborations Beyond the Mishnah |date=2022-05-26 |work=The Mishnaic Moment: Jewish Law among Jews and Christians in Early Modern Europe |pages=0 |editor-last=van Boxel |editor-first=Piet |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/43094/chapter-abstract/361565646?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2025-05-04 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oso/9780192898906.003.0016 |isbn=978-0-19-289890-6 |editor2-last=Macfarlane |editor2-first=Kirsten |editor3-last=Weinberg |editor3-first=Joanna}}</ref>

He is described by [[Heinrich Graetz]] as a semi-[[Baruch Spinoza|Spinozist]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Graetz |first=Heinrich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=laM3DwAAQBAJ&dq=benjamin+musaphia&pg=PT177 |title=History of the Jews, Vol. 5 (of 6) |date=1901 |publisher=Litres |isbn=978-5-04-082681-0 |language=en}}</ref> He wrote a letter of homage to [[Sabbatai Zevi]] on his declaration of being the [[messiah in Judaism|messiah]]. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Grunewald |first=Jacquot |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM8vAQAAIAAJ&q=binyami+moussafia |title=Ils sont fous, ces Juifs |date=1993 |publisher=A. Michel |isbn=978-2-226-06534-6 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Karpeles |first1=Gustav |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g55BAAAAYAAJ&dq=benjamin+moussafia+sabbatai&pg=PA521 |title=Histoire de la littérature juive |last2=Bloch |first2=Isaac |last3=Lévy |first3=Émile |date=1901 |publisher=E. Leroux |language=fr}}</ref> He became an enthusiastic advocate of the [[Sabbatean movement]].<ref name="Heller-2021">{{Citation |last=Heller |first=Marvin J. |title=Benjamin ben Immanuel Mussafia: A Study in Contrasts |date=2021-08-03 |work=Essays on the Making of the Early Hebrew Book |pages=208–224 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004441163/BP000017.xml |access-date=2025-05-04 |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/9789004441163_010 |isbn=978-90-04-44116-3|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ben-Ur |first=Aviva |date=2015 |title=Kabbalistic Pharmacopoeia: Well-Being in the Atlantic Jewish World |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/582243 |journal=Jewish Quarterly Review |volume=105 |issue=2 |pages=145–153 |doi=10.1353/jqr.2015.0010 |issn=1553-0604}}</ref> His work was discussed by [[Jacques Basnage]] and [[Menahem Amelander]], the latter of whom including the fact that his commentary on the [[Gemara Yerushalmi]] had not been published as of 1741.<ref name="Wallet-2012">{{Cite journal |last=Wallet |first=Bart |url=https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/1337025/103755_08.pdf |title=Links in a Chain: Early Modern Yiddish Historiography in the Northern Netherlands (1743-1812) |date=2012-01-01 |journal=Universiteit van Amsterdam [thesis, fully internal] |language=en}}</ref>

He is said to have assisted Spinoza with his return or repentance to Judaism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rosenfeld |first=Gavriel D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1fWDAAAQBAJ&dq=binyamin+musafia&pg=PA115 |title=What Ifs of Jewish History |date=2016-09-08 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-03762-5 |language=en}}</ref>

He also researched the ocean tides.<ref>{{Cite book |last=LINDO |first=E. H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9VYHMxlH0oMC&dq=Benjamin+Musaphia+portuguese&pg=PA368 |title=THE JEWS OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL |date=1848 |language=en}}</ref>