Menorat ha-Maor — The Lamp of Illumination

Major ethical work in twenty chapters, composed by Rabbi Israel ben Joseph Alnkaoua (Encaoua) in Toledo, Spain, in the 14th century. Menorat ha-Maor (The Lamp of Illumination) is a compilation of aggadic and halakhic material covering the main themes of religious life: charity, prayer, repentance, humility, Torah study, honoring parents, children's education, marriage, business morality, and good manners. Written in the troubled context of late Spanish Judaism, it served as an ethical and ritual guide. Rabbi Israel died at the stake in Toledo in 1391, alongside Judah ben Asher, during the summer massacres. He is the father of Rabbi Ephraim Alnkaoua (Encaoua), who fled to Tlemcen after these pogroms.

Sources & resources

• Menorat Ha-Maor by R. Israel Ibn Al-Nakawa, from a unique manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (1929)
• The Menorat Ha-Maor: Time and Place of Composition (1919)
• Le Manuscrit sacré — Mémoire et restitution (2026)