Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg
Encyclopedia
Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg (born 1140 in Speyer
- Feb. 22, 1217 in Regensburg), also called HeHasid or 'the Pious' in Hebrew
, was the initiator of the Chassidei Ashkenaz
, a movement of Jewish mysticism in Germany.
This movement is considered different from kabbalistic
mysticism
because it emphasises specific prayer and moral conduct. Judah settled in Regensburg
in 1195. He wrote Sefer Hasidim (Book of the Pious) and Sefer Hakavod (Book of Glory), the latter has been lost and is only known by quotations that other authors have made from it. His most prominent students were Elazar Rokeach
and Moses ben Jacob of Coucy
.
Rabbi Avraham Aharon Price
, a 20th century rabbi, wrote a commentary on Sefer Hasidim of the same title.
Rabbi Yehuda HeHasid is also the author of Sefer Gematriyot.
, also called he-Ḥasid (= "the pious"), ha-Ḳadosh, and ha-Nabi, was president of a bet ha-midrash in Speyer, and from him Judah, together with his brother Abraham, received his early instruction. Samuel died while Judah was still young. About 1195 the latter left his native place and settled in Regensburg
(Ratisbon), on account of an "accident" – most probably persecution experienced by the Jews of Speyer generally.
He founded a yeshiva
in Regensburg and secured many pupils. Among those who became famous were Eleazar of Worms, author of the Roḳeaḥ; Isaac ben Moses of Vienna
, author of Or Zarua; and Baruch ben Samuel
of Mainz, author of Sefer ha-Ḥokmah. Eleazar applies to his teacher in several passages terms expressive of the highest esteem, such as "father of wisdom".
Judah left one son, Moses Zaltman, author of a commentary on several parts of the Bible. It has been erroneously supposed that Judah had two other sons, Aaron and David.
's Or Zarua' , and in Meïr Rothenburg's collection of responsa; and he is found in social intercourse with celebrated halakists of his age.
His commentary on the Pentateuch, written down by his pupils after his lectures, is known only by citations in later commentaries.
Gadol Yichudcha Elohim Beyisrael. More probably, according to the sources, his father, or a certain Samuel Ḥazzan, who died as a martyr at Erfurt
in 1121, composed the Shir ha-Yiḥud, and Judah himself wrote a commentary on it. Several prayers are erroneously attributed to Judah; e.g., Zunz wrongly ascribes to him the alphabetical teḥinnah Ezkera Yom Moti. He wrote also commentaries on several parts of the daily prayers and on the Maḥzor.
Judah collected the notes of travel of his fellow citizen Pethahiah, though incompletely and without any order. His chief literary work was an ethical and mystical one. Undoubtedly genuine is his Sefer ha-Kavod, which is mentioned by his pupils. Rather doubtful is the authorship of the ethical will
Tzava'at Rabbi Yehudah Hechasid, printed in 1583 and translated into Judæo-German, Prague, seventeenth to eighteenth century. This testament contained regulations regarding the dead (§§ 1-15), the building of houses (§§ 16-21), matrimony (§§ 22-32), prohibited marriages between stepbrothers and stepsisters and between cousins, and various customs and superstitious prescriptions (§§ 33-end).
There are also ascribed to Judah an astrological work, Gemaṭriot, handed down by his pupils and seen by Azulai, and Sefer ha-Ḥokmah, on prayers and customs and the writing of scrolls of the Law.
The Sefer Ḥasidim is not a uniform work, nor is it the product of one author. It has been said that Samuel he-Ḥasid is the author of the first twenty-six sections. In its present form the book contains, according to Güdemann, three revisions of the same original work, of which Judah is undoubtedly the author; and both the contents and language of the book indicate that it originated in Germany. Important additions were made also by Judah's pupil Eleazar Roḳeaḥ, for which reason the authorship of the whole work has sometimes been ascribed to him. On account of the fact that collectors and copyists used varying recensions, sometimes the same passage occurs two or three times in different parts of the Sefer Ḥasidim. Some fragments of other books are inserted (as § 33, Isaac Alfasi
's Halakot; § 36, Saadia Gaon
's Emunot we-De'ot; § 431, Yerushalmi
Berakhot
; §§ 30-32, R. Nissim's Megillat Setarim). It consists, according to the edition of Basel, of 1,172 paragraphs; according to the last edition, of 1,903. Chosen parts have been translated into German by Zunz. The Book of the Pious is an exceedingly rich source for the Kulturgeschichte of the Jews in the Middle Ages. Judah he-Ḥasid has often been confounded with Judah Sir Leon of Paris, who is also called he-Ḥasid, which is nothing but an honorable title usual in his age. The fact that French words are to be found in the Book of the Pious and that it reflects French conditions caused Grätz also to attribute its authorship to Judah Sir Leon he-Ḥasid. But the reasons given by Grätz are not tenable.
among the Jews of Germany. The occasional quotations from his Sefer HaKavod present the salient points of his views.
The conception of a personal relation to the Lord was long since felt by Jewish thinkers to be inconsistent with His spiritual nature. Judah and his school, therefore, though not the first ones, distinguished between the Divine Being ( 'Eẓem) and the Divine Majesty (Kavod). The Divine Being, called also Ḳedushshah, dwells in the west, invisible to men and angels. The Divine Being is superior to all human perception. When God reveals Himself to men and angels, He appears in the form of the Divine Majesty. The Divine Majesty, then, dwelling in the east and created out of divine fire, holds the divine throne, true to its nature of representing to human eyes the Divine Being. The throne is draped on the south, east, and north, while it is open to the west in order to allow the reflection of the Divine Being dwelling in the west to shine upon it. It is surrounded by the heavenly legions of angels, chanting to the glory of the Creator.
Lacking the philosophic training common among the Spanish Jews – although he was acquainted with Ibn Ezra
, Saadia
, some of the Karaites, and perhaps Maimonides
– Judah did not reduce his mystic-theosophical theories to a system, and they are therefore difficult to survey. His intellectual importance is on the whole not clear. Zunz says of him: "To vindicate whatever is noble in human endeavors, and the highest aspirations of the Israelite, and to discover the inmost truths alluded to in the Sacred Books, seemed to be the ultimate purpose of a mind in which poetic, moral, and divine qualities were fused."
Speyer
Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...
- Feb. 22, 1217 in Regensburg), also called HeHasid or 'the Pious' in Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, was the initiator of the Chassidei Ashkenaz
Chassidei Ashkenaz
The Chassidei Ashkenaz was a Jewish movement in the 12th century and 13th century founded by Rabbi Judah the Pious of Regensburg, Germany and several other German Jews members of the Lehr family and the Kalonymus family.Rabbi Judah was born in Speyer, Germany in 1150 during a time of persecution...
, a movement of Jewish mysticism in Germany.
This movement is considered different from kabbalistic
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
because it emphasises specific prayer and moral conduct. Judah settled in Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
in 1195. He wrote Sefer Hasidim (Book of the Pious) and Sefer Hakavod (Book of Glory), the latter has been lost and is only known by quotations that other authors have made from it. His most prominent students were Elazar Rokeach
Elazar Rokeach
Eleazar Rokeach , also known as Eleazar of Worms or Eleazar ben Judah ben Kalonymus, was a leading Talmudist and mystic, and the last major member of the Chassidei Ashkenaz, a group of German Jewish pietists.- Biography :...
and Moses ben Jacob of Coucy
Moses ben Jacob of Coucy
Moses ben Jacob of Coucy was a French Tosafist and authority on Halakha . He is best known as author of one of the earliest codifications of Halakha, the Sefer Mitzvot Gadol.-Biography:...
.
Rabbi Avraham Aharon Price
Avraham Aharon Price
Rabbi Abraham Aharon Price was a world-renowned Torah scholar, writer, educator, and a community leader in Toronto, Canada. He was one of the city's most influential rabbinic figures.- Community leader :...
, a 20th century rabbi, wrote a commentary on Sefer Hasidim of the same title.
Rabbi Yehuda HeHasid is also the author of Sefer Gematriyot.
Biography
Judah was descended from an old family of kabbalists from the East that had settled in Germany. His grandfather Kalonymus was a scholar and parnas in Speyer (died 1126). His father SamuelSamuel of Speyer
Samuel ben Kalonymus he-Hasid of Speyer was a Tosafist, liturgical poet, and philosopher of the 12th century, surnamed also "the Prophet" . He seems to have lived in Spain and in France. He is quoted in the tosafot to Yebamot and Soṭah , as well as by Samuel b. Meïr in his commentary on Arbe...
, also called he-Ḥasid (= "the pious"), ha-Ḳadosh, and ha-Nabi, was president of a bet ha-midrash in Speyer, and from him Judah, together with his brother Abraham, received his early instruction. Samuel died while Judah was still young. About 1195 the latter left his native place and settled in Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
(Ratisbon), on account of an "accident" – most probably persecution experienced by the Jews of Speyer generally.
He founded a yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
in Regensburg and secured many pupils. Among those who became famous were Eleazar of Worms, author of the Roḳeaḥ; Isaac ben Moses of Vienna
Isaac ben Moses of Vienna
Isaac ben Moses of Vienna, also called Isaac Or Zarua or the Riaz, was one of the greatest rabbis of the Middle Ages. He was probably born in Bohemia and lived between 1200 and 1270. He attained his fame in Vienna and his major work, the halachic guide known as the Or Zarua, was very popular...
, author of Or Zarua; and Baruch ben Samuel
Baruch ben Samuel
Baruch ben Samuel , also called Baruch of Mainz to distinguish him from Baruch ben Isaac, was a Talmudist and prolific payyeṭan, who flourished in Mainz at the beginning of the thirteenth century. He was a pupil of Moses ben Solomon ha-Kohen of Mainz and of Eliezer ben Samuel of Metz; the judicial...
of Mainz, author of Sefer ha-Ḥokmah. Eleazar applies to his teacher in several passages terms expressive of the highest esteem, such as "father of wisdom".
Judah left one son, Moses Zaltman, author of a commentary on several parts of the Bible. It has been erroneously supposed that Judah had two other sons, Aaron and David.
Legends of his life
Legend describes Judah as an excellent bowman who at the age of eighteen was ignorant of the daily prayers. When, however, enlightenment suddenly came upon him he performed many miracles. He restored fertility to a young married woman. The prophet Elijah is said to have partaken of his "Seder" meal and to have been seen by him in a synagogue. He miraculously prevented a Jewish child from being baptized, and knew the exact year of Israel's redemption. He maintained social intercourse with the Bishop of Salzburg and acted as seer for the Duke of Regensburg.Writings
It is rather difficult to determine in what the new and important departure ascribed to him by legend consisted, since the obscurity spread over his works is as impenetrable as that surrounding his life. The study of the Talmud, especially as it was treated by his contemporaries, seemed to him fruitless. Still, occasionally a halakhic writing, Gan Bosem, is quoted as his; a decision of his is found in TaSHBaẒ, § 219, in R. IsaacIsaac ben Moses of Vienna
Isaac ben Moses of Vienna, also called Isaac Or Zarua or the Riaz, was one of the greatest rabbis of the Middle Ages. He was probably born in Bohemia and lived between 1200 and 1270. He attained his fame in Vienna and his major work, the halachic guide known as the Or Zarua, was very popular...
's Or Zarua' , and in Meïr Rothenburg's collection of responsa; and he is found in social intercourse with celebrated halakists of his age.
His commentary on the Pentateuch, written down by his pupils after his lectures, is known only by citations in later commentaries.
Liturgy
He composed liturgical songs, but the authenticity of those attributed to him is uncertain. As regards his Shir Hayichud (seven parts; the eighth is called Shir Hakavod), printed in Tihingen, 1560, there is very great divergence of opinion, and the question of its authorship is still undecided. According to Zunz, it seems to be genuine, as do also his prayer Yechabeh Dim`ati and his selichaSelichot
Selichot or slichot are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on Fast Days...
Gadol Yichudcha Elohim Beyisrael. More probably, according to the sources, his father, or a certain Samuel Ḥazzan, who died as a martyr at Erfurt
Erfurt
Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...
in 1121, composed the Shir ha-Yiḥud, and Judah himself wrote a commentary on it. Several prayers are erroneously attributed to Judah; e.g., Zunz wrongly ascribes to him the alphabetical teḥinnah Ezkera Yom Moti. He wrote also commentaries on several parts of the daily prayers and on the Maḥzor.
Judah collected the notes of travel of his fellow citizen Pethahiah, though incompletely and without any order. His chief literary work was an ethical and mystical one. Undoubtedly genuine is his Sefer ha-Kavod, which is mentioned by his pupils. Rather doubtful is the authorship of the ethical will
Ethical will
An Ethical will is a document designed to pass ethical values from one generation to the next. Rabbis and Jewish laypeople have continued to write ethical wills during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In recent years, the practice has been more widely used by the general public...
Tzava'at Rabbi Yehudah Hechasid, printed in 1583 and translated into Judæo-German, Prague, seventeenth to eighteenth century. This testament contained regulations regarding the dead (§§ 1-15), the building of houses (§§ 16-21), matrimony (§§ 22-32), prohibited marriages between stepbrothers and stepsisters and between cousins, and various customs and superstitious prescriptions (§§ 33-end).
There are also ascribed to Judah an astrological work, Gemaṭriot, handed down by his pupils and seen by Azulai, and Sefer ha-Ḥokmah, on prayers and customs and the writing of scrolls of the Law.
Sefer Ḥasidim
The principal work, however, with which Judah's name is connected is the Sefer Ḥasidim (Bologna, 1538; Basel, 1580, and often reprinted). The book contains ethical, ascetic, and mystical sentences, intermingled with elements of German popular belief. It deals (§§ 1-13) with piety (heading, Shemuel; so-called Sefer HaYir'ah); (§§ 14-26), reward and punishment, penitence, the hereafter, etc. (heading, Sefer ha-Ḥasidim; so-called Sefer Teshuvah); (§§ 27-489), authorship of the book, pride, the hereafter and retribution, penitence and sinful desires, fasting and fast-days, suspicion, public mortification, martyrdom, etc. (heading, Zeh Sefer ha-Ḥasidim); (§§ 490-638), the Sabbath; (§§ 639-746), tefillin, ẓiẓit, mezuzot, books; (§§ 747-856), the study of the Law; (§§ 857-929), charity; (§§ 930-970), reverence for parents; (§§ 971-1386), piety, worship of God, prayer, visiting the sick, etc.; (§§ 1387-1426), excommunication and oaths; the final paragraphs repeat and amplify upon matter previously discussed.The Sefer Ḥasidim is not a uniform work, nor is it the product of one author. It has been said that Samuel he-Ḥasid is the author of the first twenty-six sections. In its present form the book contains, according to Güdemann, three revisions of the same original work, of which Judah is undoubtedly the author; and both the contents and language of the book indicate that it originated in Germany. Important additions were made also by Judah's pupil Eleazar Roḳeaḥ, for which reason the authorship of the whole work has sometimes been ascribed to him. On account of the fact that collectors and copyists used varying recensions, sometimes the same passage occurs two or three times in different parts of the Sefer Ḥasidim. Some fragments of other books are inserted (as § 33, Isaac Alfasi
Isaac Alfasi
for other Al-Fasi's see Al-Fasi disambiguationIsaac ben Jacob Alfasi ha-Cohen - also known as the Alfasi or by his Hebrew acronym Rif , was a Talmudist and posek...
's Halakot; § 36, Saadia Gaon
Saadia Gaon
Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.The first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic, he is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature...
's Emunot we-De'ot; § 431, Yerushalmi
Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud, talmud meaning "instruction", "learning", , is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Mishnah which was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th century. The voluminous text is also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael...
Berakhot
Berakhot (Talmud)
Berachot is the first tractate of Seder Zeraim, a collection of the Mishnah that primarily deals with laws relating to plants and farming...
; §§ 30-32, R. Nissim's Megillat Setarim). It consists, according to the edition of Basel, of 1,172 paragraphs; according to the last edition, of 1,903. Chosen parts have been translated into German by Zunz. The Book of the Pious is an exceedingly rich source for the Kulturgeschichte of the Jews in the Middle Ages. Judah he-Ḥasid has often been confounded with Judah Sir Leon of Paris, who is also called he-Ḥasid, which is nothing but an honorable title usual in his age. The fact that French words are to be found in the Book of the Pious and that it reflects French conditions caused Grätz also to attribute its authorship to Judah Sir Leon he-Ḥasid. But the reasons given by Grätz are not tenable.
Mysticism
The precise importance of Judah ben Samuel it is difficult to determine. Side by side with the official, dogmatic religion of the Church or the Synagogue there has always existed a mysticism dealing more largely and more intimately with the personal relation of the individual to God, which at times was in opposition to the religion of the Synagogue. Judah's mysticism was in such a stage of opposition; he therefore undervalued the study of the Halakhah and indulged in marked departures from the accepted religious practises. He endeavored to deepen the feeling of devotion and piety and emphasized the importance of studying the Bible as against studying the Talmud. He deals mystically with prayer, regarding it as more important than study. It was really he who introduced theosophyTheosophy (history of philosophy)
Theosophy , designates several bodies of ideas since Late Antiquity. The Greek term is attested on magical papyri .-Neoplatonism:...
among the Jews of Germany. The occasional quotations from his Sefer HaKavod present the salient points of his views.
The conception of a personal relation to the Lord was long since felt by Jewish thinkers to be inconsistent with His spiritual nature. Judah and his school, therefore, though not the first ones, distinguished between the Divine Being ( 'Eẓem) and the Divine Majesty (Kavod). The Divine Being, called also Ḳedushshah, dwells in the west, invisible to men and angels. The Divine Being is superior to all human perception. When God reveals Himself to men and angels, He appears in the form of the Divine Majesty. The Divine Majesty, then, dwelling in the east and created out of divine fire, holds the divine throne, true to its nature of representing to human eyes the Divine Being. The throne is draped on the south, east, and north, while it is open to the west in order to allow the reflection of the Divine Being dwelling in the west to shine upon it. It is surrounded by the heavenly legions of angels, chanting to the glory of the Creator.
Lacking the philosophic training common among the Spanish Jews – although he was acquainted with Ibn Ezra
Abraham ibn Ezra
Rabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
, Saadia
Saadia Gaon
Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.The first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic, he is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature...
, some of the Karaites, and perhaps Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
– Judah did not reduce his mystic-theosophical theories to a system, and they are therefore difficult to survey. His intellectual importance is on the whole not clear. Zunz says of him: "To vindicate whatever is noble in human endeavors, and the highest aspirations of the Israelite, and to discover the inmost truths alluded to in the Sacred Books, seemed to be the ultimate purpose of a mind in which poetic, moral, and divine qualities were fused."
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
In addition to the works cited in the article,- Julius FürstJulius FürstJulius Fürst , was a Jewish German orientalist.Fürst was a distinguished scholar of Semitic languages and literature...
, Bibl. Jud. i. 169; - S. A. Wertheimer, Sefer Leshon Hasidim, two parts, Jerusalem, 1899;
- Reifmann, in Oẓar Ṭob, 1885, pp. 26 et seq.