Halevi wrote "The Kuzari," a philosophical dialogue in which a pagan king investigates and converts to Judaism, arguing against the sufficiency of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic philosophy for religious truth. He distinguished the abstractly reasoned "God of Aristotle" from the historically and experientially known "God of Abraham," holding that the collective prophetic experience of the Jewish people at Sinai gives access to religious truth that philosophy alone cannot reach.
Intellectual setting
Halevi wrote as leading Jewish intellectuals in Al-Andalus increasingly engaged Aristotelian and Neoplatonic philosophy, and "The Kuzari" is read as a direct response to the perceived overreach of philosophical rationalism in explaining Jewish religious commitment; he ultimately undertook the pilgrimage to the Land of Israel his own philosophy celebrated.
Key ideas
The limits of philosophical rationalism
Against the Aristotelian and Neoplatonic falsafa tradition, Halevi argued in "The Kuzari" that abstract philosophical reasoning cannot by itself establish the truths of revealed religion, which instead rest on the direct, collectively witnessed prophetic experience of a historical people.
The God of Abraham versus the God of Aristotle
Halevi distinguished a philosopher's God, known only as an abstract metaphysical conclusion, from the God of Abraham, known through lived historical relationship and revelation, and argued the Jewish people's unique prophetic history and the Land of Israel itself hold a distinct spiritual status.
Legacy
Halevi's "Kuzari" became one of the most widely read works of medieval Jewish thought, offering an influential anti-rationalist counterpoint to Maimonidean philosophy, and his emphasis on the Land of Israel's unique status later influenced religious-Zionist thought.