Old Prophesies, Multiple Modernities: The Stormy Afterlife of a Medieval Pietist in Early Modern Ashkenaz

Abstract

What was the role of the medieval pietistic heritage in the re-formation of eighteenth century’s Jewish cultures, consciousness, and identities? Rabbi Judah he-Ḥasid’s will, a short, vague, and enigmatic document, played an important role in the consolidation and crystallization of halakhic identities in the early modern era. This paper traces the document’s infiltration into the canonical halakhic literature of the sixteenth century and then turns to the multifaceted storm that ensued among its critics in the eighteenth century. The study reveals fundamental upheavals in the management and codification of sources of knowledge in the Jewish discourse of the early modern era. Tracing the rejection or the adoption and adaptation of Judah he-Ḥasid’s will in new structures of thought bears on central and contradictory phenomena in Jewish modern trends such as kabbalistic—especially Lurianic—influence; the emergence of humanist philology; internalization of self-criticism and self-reflection; the influence of science; and the birth of Ḥasidism. These tensions and constraints are reflected through the fiery discourse of culture and identity in which this pietistic heritage played a pivotal part during the modern era.