[¹¹] The tract was first printed in Spanish and Dutch in 1642, and not until 1650 did it appear in Hebrew.
Leon Templo,[¹] as our Haham is at times referred to, is supposed to have invented “The Arms of yᵉ most Ancient & Honorable Fraternity, of Free and Accepted Masons.” The original drawing was seen by Laurence Dermott (1720–1791) when he saw the model of the Temple in 1759–1760.[²] He also wrote on the “Cherubim” and on the “Ark of the Testimony.” In 1671 he issued the Psalms in Hebrew, with a Spanish paraphrase and notes. This was his last published work, in the preface of which he tells us that although he was then sixty-seven years of age, he completed the work in seven months, at times that he could spare from his tutorial duties. Four works in manuscript are still unpublished. After his death, among his sketches were found over two hundred designs to illustrate and elucidate Biblical and Rabbinical passages. These his son Haham Solomon Raphael (ob. 1733 circa) de Leon Templo presented to Willem Surenhuis, who had them engraved for his edition of the Mishna.[³]
[¹] Templo was assumed as a surname by his descendants.
[²] Ahiman Rezon, ibid.
[³] Mischna sive Totius Hebræorum Juris, Rituum, Antiquitatum, ac Legum Oralium Systema, ... Guilielmus Surenhusius.... Amstelædami, ... [1698–1703] (vi. vols. fol.)
Biographers do not seem to know when and where he died. David Franco Mendes (1713–1792) tells us that after his London visit he returned to Amsterdam, and although he gives a transcription of his epitaph, consisting of eight lines of Hebrew laudatory verse, no date is mentioned.[¹] Dr. M. Kayserling suggests that he died after 1675, that is after his London visit.[²] There is, however, good authority to surmise that he died in London during his visit.
[¹]תולדות החכם מחו׳ יעקב יהודה ליאון זצ״ל by חפשי (Franco) המאסף חדש סיון תקמה .pp .רצז-שא
[²] Jewish Encyclopedia, 1904, vol. viii. p. 1.