Sefer Hasidim

The book contains ethical, ascetic, and mystical teachings, intermingled with elements of German popular belief. It discusses ethics and how they relate to everyday Jewish life, dealing with a variety of topics including piety (heading, Shemuel; so-called Sefer HaYir'ah); (§§ 14–26), reward and punishment, penitence, the hereafter, etc. (heading, Sefer HaḤasidim; so-called Sefer Teshuvah); (§§ 27–489), authorship of the book, pride, the hereafter and retribution, penitence and sinful desires, fasting and fast-days, suspicion, public mortification, martyrdom, etc. (heading, Zeh Sefer ha-Ḥasidim); (§§ 490–638), the Sabbath; (§§ 639–746), tefillin, ẓiẓit, mezuzot, books; (§§ 747–856), the study of the Law; (§§ 857–929), charity; (§§ 930–970), reverence for parents; (§§ 971–1386), piety, worship of God, prayer, visiting the sick, etc.; (§§ 1387–1426), excommunication and oaths; the final paragraphs repeat and amplify upon matter previously discussed.

This text takes into consideration the specific circumstances of these ethical situations including the individual character qualities of the subject, historical and economic context, and the subjects relationship to other people, making it an extremely important text when it comes to everyday Jewish life in medieval Germany.

It serves as a guide for how to handle life's common tasks and challenges. There is no other ethical Hebrew text that covers as many topics while retaining close attention to realistic detail as Sefer Hasidim. Sefer Hasidim even served as a final authority on the way of Jewish life for the for authors of Halakah after the 15th century.

It consists, according to the edition of Basel, of 1,172 paragraphs; according to the last edition, of 1,903. Chosen parts have been translated into German by Zunz.Zunz, Z. G. pp. 135–142; comp. Zunz, Literaturgesch. p. 299; Grätz, Gesch. vi. 215 The Book of the Pious is an exceedingly rich source for the Kulturgeschichte of the Jews in the Middle Ages.see Berliner, Aus dem Inneren Leben; Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages

Sefer Hasidim is not a uniform work, nor is it the product of one author. It appears that Judah HaHasid most likely was not the sole author of the Sefer Hasidim.{{cite journal|title=Was Judah he-Ḥasid the "Author" of Sefer Ḥasidim?|journal=Jewish History|volume=34|pages=31–52|date=2021|last=Shyovitz|first=David I.|issue=1–3 |doi=10.1007/s10835-021-09374-7|s2cid=254600980 }} It has been said that Samuel he-Ḥasid is the author of the first 26 sections.see ed. Wistinetzki, p. 490, note; Epstein, l.c. p. 94 In its present form the book contains, according to Güdemann, three revisions of the same original work,Güdemann, Erziehungswesen, Vienna, 1880, p. 281, note iv. of which Judah is undoubtedly the author; and both the contents and language of the book indicate that it originated in Germany. Important additions were made also by Judah's pupil Eleazar Roḳeaḥ,see Epstein, l.c. p. 93 for which reason the authorship of the whole work has sometimes been ascribed to him. As collectors and copyists used varying recensions, sometimes the same passage occurs two or three times in different parts of the Sefer Ḥasidim. Some fragments of other books are inserted.As § 33, Isaac Alfasi's Halakot; § 36, Saadia Gaon's Emunot we-De'ot; § 431, Yerushalmi Berakhot; §§ 30-32, R. Nissim's Megillat Setarim

This Hebrew book originated between the late 12th and early 13th centuries in the Rhineland, shortly after the Second Crusade. After this time, it circulated widely. It influenced the distinctive religious practices and Hebrew literary style of Jews in Ashkenaz and also shaped the discourse about Jewish ethics in medieval Europe and beyond.{{cite web|title=Sefer Hasidim|url=http://www.princeton.edu/judaic/special-projects/sefer-hasidim/|publisher=Princeton University|accessdate=6 February 2013}}

The book has been printed many times since 1538.Bologna, 1538; Basel, 1580, and often reprinted; see Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 1320; published according to De Rossi MS. No. 1133 [which contains many variant readings and represents an older text] in Meḳiẓe Nirdamim collection by Judah Wistinetzki, Berlin, 1891-93

According to Ivan Marcus, no original text of the Sefer Hasidim ever existed.{{cite book|last=Marcus|first=Ivan|title=Sefer Hasidim and the Ashkenazic Book in Medieval Europe|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2018|pages=13–44|isbn=9780812295009|doi=10.9783/9780812295009}}

It is therefore no surprise, then, that thirty-seven manuscripts that include texts from the Sefer Hasidim have been identified.{{cite book|last=Marcus|first=Ivan|title=Sefer Hasidim and the Ashkenazic Book in Medieval Europe|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2018|pages=87–124|isbn=9780812295009|doi=10.9783/9780812295009}} Seventeen of these manuscripts are available online.{{Cite web|title= Princeton University Sefer Hasidim Database (PUSHD)|url=https://etc.princeton.edu/sefer_hasidim/|access-date=2021-07-10|website=etc.princeton.edu|language=en}} Some manuscripts are more extensive than others. Two versions of the book are best known: one printed in Bologna and another that was found in Parma. An edition by Jehuda Wistinetzki based on the most complete source, the Parma manuscript, was published by the Mekitzei Nirdamim Society in 1891 and reprinted in 1955. Recently Otzar haPoskim Institute has published an elaborate version with numerous commentaries.

Some studies address subjects included within Sefer Hasidim. These include the subject of Jewish travel,{{cite journal|title=Home and Away: The Opposition to Travel in Sefer Hasidim|journal=Jewish History|volume=34|pages=107–123|date=2021|last=Liberles|first=Ahuva|doi=10.1007/s10835-021-09376-5|s2cid=254598534 }} and the attitude toward music.{{cite journal|title=The Jewish attitude towards the playing of music in the Tripartite Mahzor|journal= Cogent Art & Humanities|volume=7|pages=18–19|date=2020|last=Shaked|first=Guy| doi=10.1080/23311983.2020.1740539|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|title=Eine Melodie, die das Herz erfreut - zu Musik und Gesang im Sefer Chasidim|journal=Biblische Notizen|volume=116|pages=5–14|date=2003|last=Borchers|first=Sussane|issn=0178-2967}} Entertainment and socializing especially among young people has been denigrated by some significant works of Jewish scholarship and law (including Sefer Hasidim and Shulkhan Arukh) as frivolity and a distraction from the Torah.{{cite book |last1=Veildlinger |first1=Jeffrey |title=Jewish Public Culture in the Late Russian Empire |date=2009 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington, Indiana |page=2}}

• Brit Olam by Chaim Yosef David Azulai, with additions Shomer ha-Brit
• Mishnat Chassidim by Saadia Helvona
• Mekor Chesed by Reuben Margolies (1924, printed in the Mossad Harav Kook edition)
• Mishnat Avraham by Avraham Aharon Price (1955, Mikitzei Nirdamim edition)

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• Hebrew text available on [https://www.sefaria.org/Sefer_Hasidim?lang=bi Sefaria]

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Category:Jewish medieval literature