Traces of esoteric studies in the tosafist period

Abstract

The Tosafists of northern France and Germany were rabbinic scholars whose academic orientation was clearly talmudocentric. Despite the 'very full library of earlier Jewish literature which they had at their disposal, the vast majority, of their time was spent studying Talmud. The Tosafists.did not inherit a philosophical tradition, nor did they have access to or interest in the intellectual changes and developments regarding philosophy and religious thought that were occurring throughout contemporary Christian society.1.......Recent research has shown, homer, 'that aspects of the Pietists' educational critique, their curricular interests, and even their pietism went shared by 'mainstream northern French Tosafists such as R. Moses of Couey and the brothers of Evreux who had no known geographic or tutorial link to hasidei Ashkenaz. 4 There were additional affinities between the German Pietists and prominent Tosafists which can only be alluded to here. I intend, in a larger study, to characterize these affinities ·more fully and to trace their origins, and to reassess the degree to which Tosafists were interested in esoteric studies. What follows is a partial treatment of some of the sources and issues which will be considered in that study. (from Introduction)