ABSTRACT
Among the several areas of medieval Jewish biblical exegesis, one which has been almost entirely neglected is the biblical commentary literature of Rabbi Judah the Pietist and his circle, Hasidei Ashkenaz, the Jewish Pietists of medieval Germany. A reason for the relative inattention accorded to Hasidei Ashkenaz exegesis may lie in a bias that gives preference to commentators stressing the peshat, or so-called plain sense of Scripture, which Hasidei Ashkenaz commentaries are thought to have avoided. A corollary of the kind of literary approach to the Bible has been a renewed interest in biblical commentaries, insofar as they are sensitive to nuances and ambiguity in the original text. This chapter outlines the authors’ view of exegetical modes of interpretation and illustrates some of their special techniques after pointing out the types of sources that deal with biblical commentary. Finally, it presents a socio-intellectual picture of the pietists as exegetes “for the few and for the many”.
