Medieval Ashkenazi Pietism and the Sefer Hasidim

Ashkenazi Pietism (Hasidei Ashkenaz) is a medieval pietistic movement born in the Rhineland around figures such as Judah the Pious and Eleazar of Worms. It advocates intense devotion, humility, rigorous repentance, and a demanding ethics, expounded notably in the Sefer Hasidim. Distinct from the later Polish Hasidism, it also develops its own esoteric and liturgical speculations.