First published in 1587, Moses Cordovero's now classic introduction to Kabbalah, Or Ne'erav, was intended to serve several purposes; it was intended both to provide a justification for the study of Kabbalah and to encourage that study by providing detailed instructions for interested laymen on how to undertake that study; indeed, it was intended to be a summary of Cordovero's much larger Pardes Rimmonim.
In many ways, Cordovero was ideally suited to compose such a work. His rabbinical teacher was none other than R. Joseph Caro, author of the Shulhan Arukh, which quickly became the halakhic code par excellence. His master in Kabbalah was Solomon ha-Levi Alkabetz, whose sister he later married. The result of his studies with both was nothing less than a Kabbalistic "code," a systematic Kabbalistic theology of the Zohar, the basic text of Jewish mysticism. But this work was too large and too complex to be easily mastered. Moreover, it required too much prior knowledge to serve as an introduction to the subject; hence the need for Or Ne'erav.
Or Ne'erav succeeded in fulfilling all these purposes and has remained a classic introduction to the study of Kabbalah - and is used as such to this day.
