ABOAB, ISACCO. — Rabbi who lived around 1300 in Spain. In his work Menórdah ha-mâôr (“The Candelabrum of Lights”), he presents in popular form the Talmudic and midrashic passages concerning moral principles and duties, addressing “young and old, wise and ignorant, men and women.”
In seven chapters (“lights”), A. follows Saadja in dividing the precepts of the Torah into revealed and rational precepts. The former aim “to instill right faith in the existence of the Creator,” while the latter serve “to ennoble our customs and to place the common good on a solid foundation.” A. is the first in Spain to draw on aggadic sources to highlight their moral and educational value, and he reproaches his contemporaries for devoting too much care to Talmudic casuistry while neglecting the aggadic element. At a time when philosophical studies were giving way to Kabbalistic currents, A. on the one hand follows the rational biblical exegesis of Ibn Ezra and Maimonides, and on the other finds in Sacred Scripture “mysteries and allusions of another kind that extend to infinity,” thus aligning with the mystical exegesis of Nahmanides; he also cites the Kabbalist Isaac ibn Latif. The purpose of earthly existence is to perfect oneself through study and good works. A.’s work had a long series of editions and was translated several times into German and Spanish.