Ohr HaChaim [“The Light of Life”: philosophical polemic]

YA’AVETZ, JOSEPH

Abraham ibn Usque

Ferrara

1554

First Edition. Title set within architectural arch with the printer’s device of a spherical astrolabe resting on a scroll with a verse from Psalm 130:5.

Vinograd, Ferrara 23.

The author (d. 1507), respectfully referred to as HeChassid Ya’avetz, lived through the Spanish Expulsion of 1492. The tragic events and the pitiful state of the remnants of Spanish Jewry, left Ya’avetz traumatized and he spent his remaining years attempting to understand why such a tragedy occurred. From his newfound home in Mantua, Ya’avetz penned this fiercely anti-philosophical treatise in which he argues that rationalism, a byproduct of a distorted view of Maimonidean intellectualism, is what led so many Spanish Jews choose to embrace the Church rather than face a life of exile. Ya’avetz posited that the resulting weakening of religious observance and the avoidance of personal religious sacrifice had destroyed Spanish Jewry long before the expulsion physically dispersed them. Hundreds of years later, with the spread of the Haskalah in Central Europe, Ohr HaChaim enjoyed a resurgence in popularity as its anti-rationalist doctrine resonated with conservative groups determined to stem the tide of modern ways of thought. The Chassidic master R. Tzvi Elimelech Spira of Dinov wrote a commentary to the Ohr HaChaim, explaining how Ya’avetz’s words encouraging simple faith stood in contrast to the machinations of the Maskilim of the day (Ma’ayan Ganim, Lublin 1912).