Menoras HaMaor: The Light of Contentment (Book of the Month, Adar 5786)

Our Book of the Month for Adar this year is Menoras HaMaor: the Light of Contentment. This is a translation of the celebrated work of Rabbenu Yitzchat Abohav by Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Reinman.

Rabbenu Abohav was an early 14th century Spanish Talmudic scholar and Kabbalist. He is known for his intellectual approach to rabbinic literature, which he juxtaposed with contemporary Spanish Kabbalah. Of his many works, the Menorat HaMaor survived and won considerable fame for the author, though in his humility he assures his readers that he composed it chiefly for his own use as a public speaker. But besides this it has contributed probably more than any other medieval book to the popularization of rabbinical lore and to the religious edification and elevation of the masses. It belongs to that class of ethical works which sprang up in the 13th century in a time of reaction against the one-sided manner in which Talmudic studies had been previously pursued.

"These Talmudists consider it their duty to propose difficult questions and answer them in a witty and subtle manner, but leave unnoticed the precious pearls that lie upon the bed of the Talmudic ocean, the aggadic passages (similar to Midrash) so rich in beauty and sweetness."

He conceived the plan of grouping together the rich material stored up in the vast treasure-house of Aggadah from the religious and ethical point of view, and of presenting it in a book, intending by it to illumine the minds and the hearts of his coreligionists. Alluding to the seven-armed Menorah in the Tabernacle, he divided the book into seven sections, each of which bears the title of Ner or "Lamp" subdivided into seven separate parts and chapters.

This English-language edition is translated by Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Reinman, is part of the Marvin N. Hirschhorn Collection, which is housed in our Beit Midrash library.