Rabbi Shmuel heChasid רבי שמואל החסיד
of the Kalonymus family of Speyer, father of Yehuda heChasid
Rabbi Shmuel ben Kalonymus of Speyer came of the family that had brought the learning of the Italian communities into Germany as early as the tenth century. He was called "heChasid"—the pious—and from him Chasidei Ashkenaz take their beginning: a circle for which the chief question was not "what to do" but "with what heart".
The first part of the Sefer Chasidim—the Sefer haYirah—is ascribed to him; the rest was completed by his son, Rabbi Yehuda heChasid. From here came the prayer customs of Ashkenaz, the particular reckoning of "measure for measure" in conduct, and that severity toward oneself which centuries later would answer in the Lithuanian Musar movement.
The sources give no exact years of life; the window of activity is set by generation, following Aharon Hyman and the lists of Seder haDorot.
On the timeline
Places
Related
Sources
Rishonim
- Sefer Chasidim, the Sefer haYirah portion — ascribed to Rabbi Shmuel
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- Shem ha-Gedolim of Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai — the compendium of the authors of sefarim: who wrote a book and what is known of him
Basis: documents and evidence.