A Decision Concerning the Fear of God and Faith

The act of prayer is often linked to complex ideas about God and divinity. A Decision Concerning Fear [of God] and Faith (Pesak ha-yir’ah ve-ha-emunah), an anonymous Hebrew mystical text, represents a shift from traditional concepts of prayer. It originated from a small group called the Circle of the Unique Cherub because they used the term unique cherub to describe a power emanating from God. This circle flourished in the Rhineland and northern France between the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, possibly one of several groups identified as German Pietists (Hasidei Ashkenaz). They based their spiritual worldview on a paraphrase of the Book of Creation (Sefer yetsirah) called the Baraita of Joseph ben Uzziel, named after the legendary son of the prophet Jeremiah; both texts focus on cosmogony and cosmology. The only named member of this group is R. Elḥanan ben Yakar, who was active in England in the first half of the thirteenth century. Here, the text urges its reader to consider the many layers of the divine world to which prayers ascend.