Hanhagath Hachaim-Regimiento de la Vida [ethics]

ALMOSNINO, MOSES.

Joseph Ya’abetz

Salonika

1564

FIRST EDITION. Text in Ladino with side-notes in Hebrew. Hebrew-Ladino glossary at end

Vinograd, Salonika 64; Mehlman 1497; Kayserling 10; Yaari, Ladino 198; not in Adams

ONE OF THE EARLIEST WORKS OF RELIGIOUS LITERATURE IN LADINO. Born in Salonika, Moses ben Baruch Almosnino hailed from a distinguished Jewish family originally from the Spanish town of Aragon. He was renowned for his knowledge of rabbinical matters and for his scholarship in the sciences, particularly natural physics and astronomy, he also served as Rabbi of the community of Spanish exiles in Constantinople. In this homiletical work, Almosnino addresses, the origin of good and evil, the influence of the stars, Providence, the moral life, education of children, and freedom of Will. Appended is a chapter on the interpretations of dreams: "Dreams, Their Origin and True Nature," composed at the request of “the most illustrious Senõr Don Joseph Nasi, Duke of Naxos”. The treatise gives a graphic description of the later’s luxurious way of life. A glosary of difficult Spanish words appearing in the text are translated into Hebrew at the end. Ladino religious literary tradition began in the 13th-15th centuries with a series of Bible translations. Next came works of biblical intepretation and ethics adapted from Hebrew and other languages, for example; ibn Paqudah’s Chovoth Ha’levavoth and Isacc Aboab’s Menorath Ha’maor. However Almosnino’s Hanhagath Ha’chaim was among the first original religious works in Ladino. See: EJ X, col.1348-9