ABSTRACT
The Jewish-Sufi encounter is of enduring historical significance for several reasons, each of which is the focus of attention. First and foremost, the movement represents a unique moment in the history of religions, in which a rival religion was valued as a spiritual resource. In order to properly determine the origins of Jewish-Sufi pietism, one must begin by asking what set it apart from parallel ideals of piety in the cultural landscape of the medieval Islamic Near East. Sufism continued to attract Jews as mystics and potential converts, even as Jewish-Sufism was on the wane as a spiritual option for all but a handful of Jewish devotees. During the last phase of what was once a vibrant movement, Jewish-Sufi pietism went from a community of fellow mystics to a literary and spiritual legacy that was all but forgotten in Jewish and Muslim memory until its dramatic rediscovery by modern scholars.
