Judah ben Samuel
Judah ben Samuel, also called Judah The
Ḥasid Of Regensburg, or Yehuda The Ḥasid
(d. 1217), 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).
