Abstract
The article examines R. Shabbetai ben Joseph Meshorer Bass’s (1641–1718) bibliographical project of organizing the genre nowadays known as sifrut ha-musar or ‘Jewish ethical literature’. By exploring Bass’s modus operandi, it highlights both the diverse literary expressions conveying the conception of musar and the entanglement of the emic and etic frameworks – that is, perspectives ‘from within’ and ‘from without’. Based on an analysis of Siftei Yeshenim , it shows how Bass’s notion of musar comprises a spiritual-psychological dimension, on the one hand, and a philosophical-moralistic, on the other. Furthermore, it illustrates how Bass’s endeavour was strongly inspired by Christian Hebraism and non-Jewish librarianship, and that he was explicitly positive about non-Jewish bodies of knowledge – including them in his work and recommending them for study.
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