Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg
From Wikinoah English
- See Judah he-Hasid for other people who used this name.
Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg (12th - 13th centuries), also called יהודה החסיד Judah He-Hasid or 'the Pious' in Hebrew, was the initiator of the Chassidei Ashkenaz, a movement of Jewish mysticism in Germany. As the leader of Germany's twelfth century Hasidei Ashkenaz he wrote the Sefer Hasidim.
This movement is considered different from kabbalah 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.
