The Tale of the Sorcerer

Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg, often referred to as Judah he-Ḥasid (“the pious”), was one of the three central figures of the German Pietists (Ḥasidei Ashkenaz), a movement of intense religious commitment in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Judah was likely born in Speyer, where his father had moved after the 1096 Crusader attacks. Descended from the famed Qalonymos family, he sought to convey and expand upon the mystical and magical traditions preserved in his family. Judah was also known to be a talmudist and halakhist. The details of his life, however, remain obscure. Judah wrote the theological work Book of the Glory (Sefer ha-kavod), composed commentaries on piyyutim (liturgical poetry), and played a role in assembling the pietistic anthology and manual, Book of the Pious (Sefer ḥasidim).