Between Mysticism and Philosophy: Sufi Language of Religious Experience in Judah Ha-Levi's Kuzari

A revealing study of this important medieval Jewish poet and his relation to Islamic thought.

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 wi...