Menorat ha-Maor, Isaac Aboab [Yemen]: Scribe: Sa’adya ben Shalom ben Sa’adya ben Joseph ben Shlomo Al-Kati-‘i, 5476 (1716)

230 leaves (8 ½ x 6 1/4 in.; 218 by 160 mm). Written in brown ink on paper in Yemenite rabbinic semi-cursive script, headings in bold square script, 37-42 lines to the page, gatherings of 8 leaves, modern pagination [1-460] in pencil; foliation in Hebrew letters: [7], 1-205, 1-18; catchwords in lower margins, extensive glosses in margins. Lightly browned and stained, mostly marginal. Corners rounded, some edges frayed; pp. 3-10 with marginal tape repairs, affecting some text; colophon p. 459; Sassoon stamp pp. 15, 459; early owners deed of sale p. 8. Modern red morocco with blind-tooled central medallions and borders; titles gilt on spine.

1. Written by Sa’adya ben Shalom for his personal use—his colophon, p. 459; 
2. Hasan—see Deed of Sale, p. 8; 
3. Salem ben Hasan—see Deed of Sale, p. 8; 
4. David Solomon Sassoon—his bookplate; no. 41 in Ohel Dawid; 
5. Purchased by the present owner in our rooms, Sotheby's: Important Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts From the Collection Formed By the Late David Solomon Sassoon, May 12, 1981, Lot 1.

David Solomon Sassoon, Ohel Dawid, # 41, p. 421.

A RARE MANUSCRIPT OF ABOAB'S THEOLOGICAL-ETHICAL TREATISE

Menorat ha-Ma'or was one of the most popular works of religious edification among the Jews of the Middle Ages. Written "for the ignorant and the learned, the foolish and the wise, the young and the old, for men and for women," the work has had over 70 editions and printings and has been translated into Spanish, Ladino, Yiddish, and German. The book became a handbook for preachers and served for public reading in synagogues when no preacher was available.  The author Isaac Aboab (fl. end of 14th century), divided his work into seven nerot (lamps), expanding on the idea of the seven-branched Menorah of the title. 

The text of this manuscript agrees with the printed editions of this work, but the scribe has added many important and valuable glosses in which he quotes the Jerusalem Talmud, Rashi, the Tosafists , Maimonides, Nathan ben Yehiel of Rome, Solomon ibn Adret , Simon of Frankfurt, Asher ben Yehiel, Yehuda he-Hasid, Solomon Luria and others. This manuscript was formerly in the collection of David Solomon Sassoon. See his Ohel Dawid, # 41, p. 421.