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[German Version] (c. 1700, Okop, Ukraine – 1760, Mezibuz, Silesia), acronym: “Besht,” Baal Shem Tov, lit. “Master of the Good Name,” figuratively “Master of White Magic” was actually called Israel ben Eliezer and is considered to be the founder of the modern Jewish religious movement of the “Hasidim” (Hasidism). Hasidic tradition makes him the disciple of the prophet Achiya Ha-Shiloni (1 Kgs 11:29), who was, according to midrashic tradition (Midrash), the teacher of the prophet Elijah. The collection of legends known as Shivkhey ha-Besht (“In Praise…

[German Version] (Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon; 1186, Cairo – 1237, Cairo), son of M. Maimonides, inherited the position of his father as the leader of the Jewish community in Egypt; he extended the philosophical work of his father. When the great controversy over the rationalistic work of Maimonides arose in 1232–1235 in northern Spain and the provinces, Abraham responded with “The War of the Lord” ( Milchamot ha-Shem), an apology for the rationalistic style of writing of his father; he defended vigorously …

[German Version] (or Ryzhin; surname: Friedmann; 1797, Pogrebyszcze near Kiev – 1850, Sadigora). Israel was one of the leading representatives of the Hasidic movement in the first half of the 19th century. As the grandson of the Maggid Dov Baer of Mezhirech, he assumed a leading role in the Hasidic congregation of Ryzhin as early 20 years old. Although he did not stand out either for his scholarship or for particular expertise, he quickly attained enormous recognition. Israel was implicated in a t…

[German Version] (May 26, 1912, Wloclawec, Poland – Jul 2, 1991, Jerusalem), one of the most influential scholars in Jewish studies in the second half of the 20th century. Urbach studied at Breslau Rabbinical Seminary and the Universities of Breslau (Wrocław) and Rome. He lived in Jerusalem from 1938; he served as professor of Talmud at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1953. In 1974 he was elected president of the Israeli Academy of Arts and Sciences of the World Union of Jewish Studies. In…

[German Version] (1704 [1710?], Lukazch, Poland – 1773, Anapoli). The main disciple of the founder of the Hasidic movement (Hasidism), Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov, and the leader of the first Hasidic court which assembled around him in Mezhirech from 1760 to 1772. He was a mystic and a homilist; his court was described by S. Maimon in his autobiography. Several collections of his sermons were assembled by his disciples, the best-known being Maggid Devarav le-Ya'akov ( Speaker to the People of Jacob), printed in Koretz in 1781. His teachings are charact…

[German Version] (Acronym: Ha-ARI; 1534, Jerusalem – 1572, Safed) is regarded as the most important Jewish kabbalist (Kabbalah) of modern times, the originator of a revolutionary kabbalistic myth, which is the dominant theology in orthodox Judaism to this day. His father was of European origin (“Ashkenasi”; Judaism). Not long after Luria was born, his family went to Egypt, where Luria was raised and educated. He became a halakhic authority (Halakhah) with great creative abilities and dealt in comm…

[German Version] (1240, Saragossa – 1291, Italy). Abulafia, one of the most important mystics among the medieval Kabbalists, created a highly individual form of mystic contemplation, based on a mystical interpretation of language. Leaving Spain, he journeyed through many lands until reaching Akko in 1260; he lived and taught in Sicily, Greece, and Italy. G. …

[German Version] Lubavich is a small town in Russia, near Smolensk, which became the common designation of the Hasidic movement (Hasidism), ¶ Habad, founded at the end of the 18th century. Seven generations of the Schneursohn family were the spiritual leaders of the people of Lubavich. Rabbi Shneur Salman von Liadi is still today revered as the founder and leader of Habad Hasidism. After his death his disciples elected his son, Rabbi Dov Baer (1773–1827) to lead them. Baer's son, M.M. Schneerson, became known by his …

[German Version] (1170, Toledo? – 1235), an important Jewish poet, philosopher, and translator in medieval Spain. He spent most of his life traveling through the Provence and, for many years, in the Near East, visiting Jerusalem, Damascus, Baghdad, and other places. Alcharisi translated the narrative poems ( Maqammas) of Al-Hariri from Arabic into Hebrew, and he wrote his best-known work, Tachkemoni (“Enlighten Me”), in a similar style. It is a comprehensive philosophical narrative-poetic work, cons…

[German Version] (c. 1525, Safed – c. 1586, Hebron), prominent kabbalist in 16th-century Safed, a disciple of M. Cordovero. His main work is Reshit Chokhma (“The Beginning of Wisdom”), which is the most influential expression of kabbalistic ethics (Kabbalah). The book is comprised of five extensive discussions concerning the love of God, the fear of God, repentance, humility, and sanctity, each consisting of an anthology of kabbalistic sources on the subject (mostly from the Zohar). It transforms a detailed kabbalistic…

[German Version] Tosafot (lit. additions) is a literary format of commentaries and discussions of sections of the Talmud; Baaley ha-Tosafot (authors of tosafot, tosafists) is the name given to the school of talmudic scholars who developed this format, especially in northern France and western Germany between the 11th and 13th centuries. In the printed editions of the Talmud, the tosafot are printed opposite to the classical commentary on the Talmud by Rashi, on the two sides of the talmudic texts.…

[German Version] (of Castile; born in Soria, Spain) was a key figure in an influential group of kabbalists ¶ (Kabbalah) in Castile in the second half of the 13th century. Other important figures were his father, Jacob ha-Cohen, his elder brother, also called Jacob, and his disciple Moshe (ben Solomon ben Simeon) of Burgos. These kabbalists derived their esoteric knowledge mainly from the Gerona kabbalists in the first half of the 13th century, the book Bahir and the teachings of the early kabbalists in the Provence. The works of Isaac, especially his work on the emanation ( Treatise on the …

[German Version] (c. 1165, Mainz – 1230, Worms), halakhist, poet, and writer of esoteric, mystical, and ethical works, and the central figure in the literature of the Kalonymus circle of the Hasidic Ashkenazi (Hasidism). Eleazar ben Judah left Mainz following the persecution of the Jews there in 1188, and settled in Worms. He was the main disciple of Rabbi Judah ben Samuel (Yehuda he-Chasid) of Regensburg. Eleazar wrote a halakhic (Halakhah) work, Sefer ha-Rokeah, which deals with questions of ethics. Among his most important works are the …

[German Version] I. Philosophy of Religion – II. Jewish Kabbalah – III. Christian Kabbalah I. Philosophy of Religion Since c. 1200, Kabbalah has been the designation for Jewish mysticism (III, 2). According to the name, the term Kabbalah means “reception” or “tradition”: the reception of an orally transmitted, esoteric knowledge concerning the “secrets of Scripture” ( rasin de oraita; sitre tora). The material that can be considered Kabbalah can be described in terms of (a) the philosophy of religion or phenomenology, or (b) history. A phenomenologica…

[German Version] I. General – II. Judaism I. General Exile (Lat. exilium or exul) refers to the state-organized and politically, religiously, or ethnically motivated expulsion of people from their homeland or their forced resettlement in a land that they often would not have freely chosen as a place of refuge. The politically powerful have forced people into exile in all periods of history. The t…

[German Version] I. Judaism – II. Christianity – III. Islam I. Judaism Talmudic tradition includes several examples of disputations between Jewish scholars and pagan philosophers or Roman emperors, dealing mainly with the questions of divine unity, the creation and the role of Israel ( b. Sanh. 91a–b; ' Abod. Zar. 10a–11a, etc.). Disputations with representatives of Islam and, especially, of the Christian religion became a central subject in the historical and apologetical literature (…

[German Version] I. Western Hagiography – II. Eastern Hagiography – III. Medieval and Modern Judaism I. Western Hagiography Western hagiography, as a literature that has no scholarly purpose but serves to venerate saints, first followed Greek examples. Its most important genre, the lives of the saints, is shaped less by the panegyric biography of the martyr bishop Cyprian of Carthage, written by the deacon Pontius (2nd half of 3rd cent. ce), than by the vitaes of the desert father Anthony of Padua, written by Athanasius (with two Latin translations), and of Martin …

Jewish Influences I: Antiquity The nature and extent of contacts between ancient Judaism and the assortment of sources commonly labelled “Gnostic” (or more recently “biblical demiurgical”, see Williams) is one of the most fiercely debated issues in Gnostic studies. This, however, is a relatively new phenomenon. The Church Fathers localized the origins of the Gnostic movement in Palestine (→ Simon Magus, Dositheus), but the adherence to a Gnostic sect was never seen as a relapse to something Jewish. For centuries, → Gnosticism was seen predominantly as a Christian heresy. Modern rese…

[English Version] I. Zum Begriff P. heißt »früheres Dasein« und meint eine vorweltl. oder vorirdische Existenz von Gottheit, Personen oder Gegenständen. Alle Rel., bei denen die Gottheit nicht in der Zeit aufgeht, vertreten die Vorstellung einer realen P. der Gottheit, weil das Erscheinen in der Zeit nur die Erkenntnis, nicht aber das Sein der Gottheit hervorbringt; in diesen Zusammenhang gehört auch die Vorstellung der Präexistenz Christi. In der griech. Philos., die auch die frühe Christenheit bee…

[English Version] I. Religionswissenschaftlich 1.  Zum Begriff. Antike Lehren von der S. reichen zurück bis zu den Vorsokratikern des 6./5.Jh. v.Chr. (Empedokles, Pythagoras, Orphiker/Orphik), wobei ein Dualismus von Leib und Seele vorausgesetzt ist. Danach ereignet sich die Geburt eines Menschen nicht als ganzheitliche Neuschöpfung, sondern als Wiedereinkörperung einer präexistenten Seele. Wiederholte Einkörperungen schließen nicht nur Menschen jeden Standes, sondern auch Tiere und Pflanzen ein und d…