The Kuzari: Arguments in Defense of Judaism - Paperback

by Chanan Morrison (Translator), Yehudah Halevi (Author)

"The Kuzari is one of the most important works in the history of Jewish thought. Although close to a thousand years have passed since its composition, it is still very relevant." -- Rabbi Itamar Eldar

The king of Khazaria is deeply troubled. He is devoted to the pagan religion of the Khazars, but in his dreams, an angel tells him that his actions are not pleasing to God. Spurred by the dreams, he decides to examine the various philosophical options available to him. After listening - and rejecting - proponents of Christianity and Islam, he calls for a rabbi to present his religion and beliefs.

The king has low expectations. "I had already decided not to question a Jew, because I am aware of the Jews' reduced condition and deficient beliefs. Their misery has left them nothing commendable." How will the rabbi present his religion and defend the principles of his faith?

The Kuzari is a classic work of Jewish philosophy, written in 1140 by celebrated Jewish poet and philosopher Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi. His goal was to defend Judaism against attacks from philosophers, Christian and Muslim theologians, and Karaites.

The book takes the form of a dialogue between the pagan king of the Khazars and a Jewish scholar who was invited to instruct him in the tenets of the Jewish religion. It is based on the true story of the conversion of the Khazar royalty and aristocracy to Judaism in the 8th century.

Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi wrote his magnum opus in Judeo-Arabic, the Arabic dialect spoken by Jews living in the Arab world. This English translation is based on Rabbi Yitzhak Shilat's faithful translation into Hebrew, Sefer Ha-Kuzari: Precise Hebrew Translation in the Style of the Period of Its Composition.

The book includes a biography of Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi and a summary of the central arguments of The Kuzari.

"In defending Judaism... against the philosophers, he was conscious of defending morality itself and therewith the cause, not only of Judaism, but of mankind at large." --Leo Strauss

"The Kuzari is the beginning, the foundation. From here you will build your world of faith." -- Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah Kook

Author Biography

Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi, the celebrated Hebrew poet and philosopher, was born in northern Spain in 1075. While he chose medicine as his profession, early on he evinced a love for poetry and showed marked poetic talent. Yet the muse spoke to him in the old and sacred language of the Bible, in which "he sang for all times and places, soon becoming the favorite of the people." Although personally he occupied an honored position as a physician, he felt the intolerance of the Almoravid fanatics toward his coreligionists. He had long yearned for a new, or rather for the old, home - the Holy Land. This yearning was deepened by his intense application to his religious-philosophical work, The Kuzari, and by his resulting clearer insight into Judaism. At length he decided to set out on a journey to the Land of Israel. For himself at least, he wished "to do away with the contradiction of daily confessing a longing and of never attempting to realize it." Thus, he bade farewell to daughter, grandson, pupils, friends, rank, and affluence. There was only one image in his heart - Jerusalem. In 1141, Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi boarded a ship in the Alexandria harbor to complete the last leg of his journey to the Land of Israel. At this point, authentic records fail. It is nearly certain that the ship completed its ten-day voyage to the coast of the Holy Land. A letter found in the Cairo Genizah mentions that the poet had died soon after this, during the summer of 1141. We do not know the circumstances of his death. Jewish legend relates that as he approached Jerusalem, overpowered by the sight of the Holy City, he sang his most beautiful elegy, the celebrated "Zion ha-lo Tish'ali." At that instant, he was ridden down and killed by an Arab horseman, who dashed forth from a city gate.