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Ashkenazi Hasidim

The Hasidim of Ashkenaz (Hebrew: חסידי אשכנז, trans. Khasidei Ashkenaz; "German Pietists") were a Jewish mystical, ascetic movement in the German Rhineland during the 12th and 13th centuries.

This article is about the medieval sect. For the modern movement, see Hasidic Judaism.

The movement is known for its strict asceticism and mystical doctrine who radically reimagined Jewish ethics, holding themselves accountable to din shamayim (an unwritten Law of Heaven) in addition to traditional halakha. Some posit that its theology fits into the general canon of Jewish mysticism. It certainly parallels other Jewish mysticism; however in other ways it was very original. The extent of this community's effect and influence during Middle Age German Judaism has not been studied.

Prominent members[edit]

The leaders of the community of the Ashkenazi Hasidim movement were descended from the Kalonymos family of northern Italy, a family that had immigrated to Germany in the 10th century; and the Abun family of France, among others, according to the sacred books they wrote at the close of the 10th century.


The line of thought that developed into Ashkenazi Hasidicism traces its roots to the Gaonic scholar Abu Aaron and extended to the three seminal thinkers of the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, Judah the Pious, Samuel the Pious, and Eleàzar of Worms. Rabbi Judah the Pious (Rav Yehuda Ha-Hassid) of Regensburg was the foremost leader of the Ashkenazi Hasidim. His book Sefer Hasidim (Book of the Pious) is the most significant relic of this movement. He was born in 1150 in Speyer and died in 1217. He was a strong Talmudist and attended Tosafist schools. His experiences as a Tosafist may have contributed to his desperate plea to focus on the practical aspects of the Talmud, the Halacha. He was taught the Kabbala at a young age by his father, Samuel of Speyer (Samuel the Pious).


Samuel the Pious is said to have contributed some of the sections in Sefer Hasidim, and as the father and teacher of Judah the Pious, he directly contributed to much of this movement's thought. He authored the Shir Hakavod ("Song of the Glory"), which poetically describes Ashkenazi Hasidic theology, namely, the presence of the divine glory (kavod כבוד). He also authored the Book of the Fear of God (Sefer Hayirah) and Book of Repentance (Sefer Hateshuva).


Rabbi Eleazar of Worms was a leading Talmudist and Kabbalist in the 13th century and was the prime disciple of Judah the Pious. He is best known for his work, Sefer HaRokeah (Book of the Perfumer), a halakhic guide to ethics and Jewish law for the common reader. His prediction of coming of the messianic age to begin in 1226 and come to fruition in 1240 spread far and wide in Jewish communities. He was the last major member attributed to this movement and died in 1230.

Sefer Hasidim[edit]

Sefer Hasidim, by Rabbi Judah the Pious, is the most important work of the Chassidei Ashkenaz. The themes depicted within it most significantly portray the religious ideology of the Chassidei Ashkenaz. Sefer Hasidim contains over two thousand stories. Sefer Hasidim are told to individuals gathered around a leader and this leader was called a hasid bakhamor a Pietist Sage. The Pietist, as an individual but even more as a Sage, was existentially responsible for the transgressions of his fellows, indeed for the transgressions of Jewish society as a whole Samuel's son Judah went farther and depicted him as the head of a sect.


Two versions of the Sefer Hasidim exist, the Bologna Edition and the Parma MS Edition, and a debate about which one represents an earlier version persists.

Themes and theology[edit]

Retzon haborei[edit]

One of Ashkenazi Hasidism's most central concepts was the "will of the Creator" (retzon haborei), that is to say, those standards of thought and behavior which God requires from humans, which the true worshiper of God seeks to fulfill, but which are not fully described in the written and oral Torah. Despite their lack of formal legal definition, these standards can be deduced from other sources such as Biblical narrative. On this basis, the Hasidism called for numerous new guidelines, both ethical (e.g. humility, honesty, and equity) and ritual, which they called din shamayim ("Law of Heaven").[1]


According to Sefer Hasidim, the laws of the Torah are insufficient to describe God's will for humans:

Joseph Dan, “Ashkenazi Hasidim 1941-1991” in Major Trends of Jewish Mysticism 50 Years Later 1992

T. Alexander “Rabbi Judah the Pious as a Legendary Figure” in Mysticism, Magic, Kabbala in Ashkenazi Judaism

Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism

Haym Soloveitchik, “Piety, Pietism, and German Pietism” The Jewish Quarterly Review Nos. 3-4 (January–April, 2002) 455-493.

Ivan Marcus quoted in Joseph Dan, “Was there really a Hasidic movement in Medieval Germany?” in Gershom Scholem's Major Trends 50 Years After by Joseph Dan and Peter Schafer, pgs. 95-99.

Joseph Dan, Torat Hasod Shel Chasidut Ashkenaz pg. 104-107.

Kabbala: A Very Short Introduction by Joseph Dan.

Sefer Hasidim (SH) 1076

SH 125 158 641 745 1035 1036, as quoted in Haym Soloveitchik, “Three themes in the ‘Sefer Hasidim,’” AJSR 1 (1976) 311-358.

SH 122 187 191, as quoted in Haym Soloveitchik, “Three themes in the ‘Sefer Hasidim,’” AJSR 1 (1976) 311-358.

Joseph Dan, “Was there really a Hasidic movement in Medieval Germany?” in Gershom Scholem's Major Trends 50 Years After by Joseph Dan and Peter Schafer, pgs. 95-99

Ivan Marcus, “The Historical Meaning of Haside Ashkenaz: Fact, Fiction or Cultural Self Image,” in Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism: 50 Years After, edited by Joseph Dan and Peter Schäfer, 105-107