The Book Of Kuzari

The Book of the Kuzari is one of the most famous works of the medieval Spanish Jewish philosopher and poet Judah Halevi. It is regarded as one the most important apologetic works of Jewish philosophy. The Kuzari takes place during a conversion of some Khazar nobility to Judaism. Divided into five parts it takes the form of a dialogue between a rabbi and a pagan. The pagan is then mythologized as the king of the Khazars who has invited the rabbi to instruct him in the tenets of Judaism. The Kuzari's emphasis is on the uniqueness of the Jewish people. The ideas and style of the work played an important role in debates within the Haskalah or Jewish Enlightenment movement.

Judah Halevi's Book of the Kuzari is a defense of Judaism that has enjoyed an almost continuous transmission since its composition in the twelfth century. By surveying the activities of readers, commentators, copyists, and printers for more than 700 years, Adam Shear examines the ways that the Kuzari became a classic of Jewish thought. Today, the Kuzari is usually understood as the major statement of an anti-rationalist and ethnocentric approach to Judaism and is often contrasted with the rationalism and universalism of Maimonides's Guide of the Perplexed. But this conception must be seen as a modern construction, and the reception history of the Kuzari demonstrates that many earlier readers of the work understood it as offering a way toward reconciling reason and faith and of negotiating between particularism and universalism.

Judah Ha-Levi (1075–1141), a medieval Jewish poet, mystic, and sophisticated critic of the rationalistic tradition in Judaism, is the focus of this ground-breaking study. Diana Lobel examines his influential philosophical dialogue, Sefer ha-Kuzari, written in Arabic and later translated into Hebrew, which broke religious and philosophical convention by infusing Sufi terms for religious experience with a new Jewish theological vision. Intellectually engaging, clear, and accessible, Between Mysticism and Philosophy is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the intertwined worlds of Jewish and Islamic philosophy, religion, and culture.

The Book of Kuzari is regarded as one the most important apologetic works of Jewish philosophy. It is one of the most famous works of the medieval Spanish Jewish philosopher and poet Judah Halevi and was completed around 1140. Divided into five parts, known as “ma’amarim” (articles), it takes the form of a dialogue between a rabbi and a pagan. The pagan is then mythologized as the king of the Khazars who has invited the rabbi to instruct him in the tenets of Judaism. Originally written in Arabic, the book was translated by numerous scholars, including Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon, into Hebrew and other languages. The Kuzari takes place during a conversion of some Khazar nobility to Judaism, as conflict was increasing between the Muslims in the south of Spain and the Christians in the north, with the line moving back and forth. As the Christians advanced, Jewish communities came under pressure to convert in order to survive. Judah Hallevi ended up in Christian Toledo in his later life, and The Book of Kuzazri is a product of that period: a defense of the Jewish religion and people, with a unique philosophical underpinning based on Hallevi’s studies and views.

In the Footsteps of the Kuzari is an exciting work that guides readers through Judaism's views on the most pressing philosophical issues of the day. Combining a keen sensitivity to the religious dilemmas of our day with the intellectual rigor of the university, this book serves as an introduction to Jewish philosophy, and unapologetically argues that Judaism presents a coherent and sophisticated religious worldview that is as relevant today as it has been for millennia. Building on the classic work of Jewish thought, The Kuzari, noted Orthodox thinker Prof. Shalom Rosenberg takes readers through the Jewish views that have been voiced throughout the ages and shows how they can be transformed into a compelling worldview in this postmodern age. Intellectually stimulating and philosophically creative, this important work made large waves when published in Hebrew and is now being offered to the English reading public. Take a tour through Jewish philosophy over the ages, from the Talmud to Maimonides to Rav Kook and beyond, and learn where the next stage of Jewish thought will take us.

As scepticism has rarely been studied in the context of the Arabic culture and its Judeo-Arabic sub-culture, it is small wonder that sceptical motifs of Judah Halevi’s classic theological The Kuzari (written ca. 1140) received very little scholarly attention so far. Thus, the present study seeks to shed light on Halevi’s wrestling with the dogmatic-rationalistic trends of his period from an angle of this much less studied perspective. As a by-product, this study is a contribution to the mainly uncultivated field of traces of scepticism in the Arabic culture.

The systematic formulation of the status of the People of Israel as the Chosen People of God stands at the heart of Judah Halevi's famous theological and polemical treatise - the Kuzari. The idea of the Chosen People is an ancient one and is deeply rooted in Judaism. Through a wide-ranging textual and phenomenological investigation, this book highlights the novel and systematic presentation of the Chosen People in the Kuzari and shows how Judah Halevi draws, in a creative manner, on terms, concepts, and themes borrowed from the Shi'i doctrine of the Imam as presented in Shi'i literature. This book presents a historical perspective for understanding the basis of Judah Halevi's attraction to Shi'i theology, with its unique category of God's Chosen. The polemical argument over the issue of the legitimate successor to leadership in early Islam, as well as the debate around the legitimate successor-group in medieval interreligious disputes, emerges as the historical background for the seemingly surprising link between the Shi'i Imam doctrine and the idea of the Chosen People in Judah Halevi's thought. This link on the one hand portrays Halevi as a bold, original thinker and, on the other, portrays the Shi'i Imam doctrine as exceedingly fruitful and reaching beyond the bounds of Islam.