Born likely in the German city of Wittmund, Germany or Braunschweig, in the year 1602 he became the first chief rabbi of the Jewish Community of Amsterdam.
Despite the benevolence of Count Enno III, who profited economically from the trading activities of the Jews, the citizens and clergy demanded their expulsion.
[5] According to a tradition that is also the founding legend of the Amsterdam Portuguese Jewish community, in 1601 a group of conversos or New Christians under the leadership of Jacob Tirado reached Emden by ship.
According to other sources, this initiative is said to have come from Uri's son Aaron, who - unlike his father, who only spoke German, was able to communicate with conversos in Spanish.
[6] The narrative of these events was described by the grandson of Moses and Aaron's son, the printer Uri Phoebus ha-Levi, in his 1711 book Narração da vinda dos judeos espanhoes a Amsterdam.
The reason for the arrest was the suspicion that masses were being held in Latin in their home, which is why it was assumed that they were Spanish Catholics hated in the Netherlands.
[11] It is believed that Uri ha-Levi was in the possession of the (Sephardic) Amsterdam Machsor and on whose basis he introduced the Marranos to Jewish rites; this manuscript is said to have passed on to his grandson Moses later.
[16] In addition to Aaron and Joseph, two other children are recorded for Uri ha-Levi, a daughter of unknown name, and Jacob, the progenitor of a Jacobson family in Hamburg.