Two approaches to the love of God in medieval Jewish thought: The concept of devequt in the works of Ibn Ezra and Judah Halevi

Abstract

Both Abraham Ibn Ezra and Judah Halevi claim that the ideal relationship between the individual and God is founded on love and culminates in the individual cleaving ( devequt) to God. Although they use the same term to describe this telos, they envisage the means to it in different ways. A closer analysis of this term reveals that this difference is rooted in their respective ideas concerning the role of philosophy in Judaism. Ibn Ezra, a rationalist, claims that the individual loves God through the observation of natural phenomena. Halevi, however, claims that the love of God is grounded in the historical experience of the Jewish people.