Judah ben Samuel

Judah ben Samuel (died 1217) was a Jewish mystic and semilegendary pietist, a founder of the fervent, ultrapious movement of German Ḥasidism. He was also the principal author of the ethical treatise Sefer Ḥasidim (published in Bologna, 1538; “Book of the Pious”), possibly the most important extant document of medieval Judaism and a major work of Jewish literature. Judah is not to be confused with the commentator Judah Sir Leon of Paris (1166–1224), also called ha-Ḥasid, or the 17th-century messianic enthusiast Judah Ḥasid ha-Levi, nor is the Ḥasidic movement of his time directly related to the 18th-century Ḥasidic movement founded by the Baʿal Shem Ṭov.

The facts of Judah’s life, like those of other major Jewish mystics, are obscure. He was the son of Samuel the Ḥasid, also a mystic, and belonged to the eminent Kalonymos family, which provided medieval Germany with many of her mystics and spiritual leaders. It is known that in about 1195, possibly because of German persecution, he left Speyer for Regensburg, where he founded a yeshiva (academy) and gathered such disciples as the mystic Eleazar of Worms (also a member of the Kalonymos family) and the codifiers Isaac ben Moses of Vienna and Baruch ben Samuel of Mainz. Most of Judah’s life, however, is clothed in legend; e.g., it is stated that he was ignorant of Jewish law until, at 18, sudden enlightenment enabled him to work such miracles as reviving the dead and visiting the prophet Elijah.

The Sefer Ḥasidim is a compilation of the writings of Judah, of his father Samuel, and of Judah’s disciple Eleazar of Worms. Judah’s teachings, however, appear to give a distinctive stamp to the entire work. The treatise, although disorganized and poorly written, is invaluable for giving a realistic picture of the concerns and problems of a medieval Jewish community; religion is revealed in its practical workings, rather than as disembodied theories. Dealing with man’s relations with God and his fellowman, his business practices, the sabbath, social intercourse with Gentiles, penitence, and a host of other subjects, the book is a detailed manual of conduct.

Judah also wrote a mystic work surviving only in citations dealing with the kavod (“divine glory”), the aspect of God that man can experience, as distinguished from the ultimate reality of God, which is beyond man’s experience or comprehension. Judah was also the author of liturgies and responsa (authoritative answers, or responses, to questions of Jewish law).