Studies in Musar

Studies in Musar aims at strengthening the study of Jewish moralistic literature (musar) in the field of Jewish studies. Covering all geographical areas and languages, the series focuses on the great diversity and versatility of musar from the Middle Ages to contemporary times and its place in philosophical, rabbinic, Kabbalistic, Sabbatean, Hasidic, Lithuanian, and New Age thought. The Series particularly promotes comparative research that reads musar in the context of Christian and Islamic spirituality, as well as interdisciplinary approaches that adopt innovative methodologies from the anthropology of religion, gender and feminist studies, the history of emotions, the history of the Hebrew book, linguistics, literary criticism, and ritual studies.

Studies in Musar is a double-blind peer-reviewed subseries of Studies of Jewish History and Culture, published with Brill (Leiden and Boston). The submission of manuscripts of monographs, collected volumes, as well as editions of primary sources and translations of high scholarly standard are welcome.

For further information, please visit Brill's website.

Volume I: Isaiah Horowitz’s Shnei Luhot Ha-Berit and the Pietistic Transformation of Jewish Theology

In this book, Joseph Citron offers the first comprehensive analysis of Prague Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz’s (c.1565-c.1626) magnum opus of Jewish ethical literature, the Shnei Luhot Ha-Berit. Citron’s close philological analysis reveals the pioneering nature of the work in creating an organic Jewish theological system rooted in the mystical structures of Kabbalah, cultivating an orthodoxy in thought and legal practice based upon its principles. It provided a platform for laypeople to attain great spiritual heights by emphasising that God could be served and cleaved to through mundane activity, and that Judaism demanded deep emotion and joy as much as Talmudic erudition or meticulous observance. The Shelah's paradigms significantly influenced 17th-century Sabbatean movement, the 18th-century Hasidic movement, and Jewish Orthodoxy in the 19th century. The book is essential for scholars and laypeople alike wishing to understand the evolution of Judaism in Central and Eastern Europe in the early modern period.

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