How Maimonides’ Son Brought Sufi Practices into Judaism

As the only son of the great medieval Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides, Abraham (1186-1237) followed in his father’s footsteps, serving as official head of Egypt’s Jewish community and its leading religious authority. In response to what he believed was a widespread spiritual crisis, he sought to reinvigorate Jewish piety by importing ideas and practice from Sufism, the mystical school of Islam then greatly influential in North Africa. This effort is the subject of a recent book by Elisha Russ-Fishbane. (Interview by Alan Brill.)