The major work of Rabbi Moses Almosnino (1515-1580), “Conduct of Life,” remains to this day an essential reference in classical Judeo-Spanish literature, now finally available in English in its first translation.
First published in Ladino in 1564 as, Sefer Hanhagat hahayim and in 1729 as “Regimiento de la vida”, this three-volume edition is part of the prestigious collection Veritas è terra orietur.
The work aims to disseminate the timeless teachings of ethics, in the words of the author: “In all that has been said, my intention is only to make you understand how the one who follows the path of virtue and customs of practising good and pure knowledge since childhood, lives a happy and fulfilled life (Volume 1, chapter 2)”
The third volume deals with justice (Volume 3, chapters 1-3) and friendship (chapters 4-8 and 13), love (chapter 9), the five intellectual virtues: understanding, science, wisdom, prudence, and art (chapter 10-11), and the learning of sciences as a path to virtue (chapter 12). This work presents itself as a pedagogical endeavor, intended to provide advice for leading a virtuous life.
“Conduct of Life” draws heavily from the Nicomachean Ethics but transcends this source by situating itself at the universal intersection of several traditions: Greco-Arabic philosophy, Judeo-Christian scholasticism, classical Sephardic Judaism, and medieval Jewish thought.
Thus, this work contributes to peace and intercultural understanding among peoples.
