Joseph Dan (, 1935 – 23 July 2022) was an Israeli scholar of
Jewish mysticism. He taught for over 40 years in the Department of
Jewish Thought at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was the first incumbent of the
Gershom Scholem
Gershom Scholem () (5 December 1897 – 21 February 1982), was a German-born Israeli philosopher and historian. Widely regarded as the founder of modern academic study of the Kaballah, Scholem was appointed the first professor of Jewish Myst ...
Chair in Jewish Mysticism at The Hebrew University.
Biography
Dan was born in 1935 in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
, from where, at the age of four, he and his family fled out of fear of
Nazism, settling later in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. All the biographical documents about Joseph Dan (including his own website) give his birthplace as
Bratislava,
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
, a version created by his father to escape repatriation by the British government in
Palestine.
[Sheleg, Yair, ''Mystic Circles'', in ''ha-Aretz'', 23.10.08](_blank)
/ref>
In the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Dan began a double major in Assyriology and Jewish Thought. Under the influence of the revered teacher Gershom Scholem, he was attracted towards Jewish mysticism. He received his doctorate in 1964 under the guidance of Isaiah Tishby, his thesis titled ''The Speculative Basis of the Ethical Teachings of Chassidei Ashkenaz
The Hasidim of Ashkenaz ( he, חסידי אשכנז, trans. ''Khasidei Ashkenaz''; "German Pietists") were a Jewish mystical, ascetic movement in the German Rhineland during the 12th and 13th centuries.
Background
The leaders of the community ...
''.[Hebrew: "הבסיס העיוני לתורת המוסר של חסידות אשכנז"]
Having written more than 60 books, he published recently the first three volumes of a project titled "Toledot Torat Hasod Ha'ivrit" ("History of Hebraic Mysticism and Esotericism", Zalman Shazar Center, Jerusalem), which he describes as "an attempt by one individual to write the entire history of Jewish mysticism: not some executive summary, but rather a full-blown academic survey abridgment for executives but with academic detail".
Awards
In 1997, Dan was awarded the Israel Prize, for Jewish thought.
See also
* List of Israel Prize recipients
References
External links
Joseph Dan's website at the Hebrew University
Interview with Joseph Dan in ''Haaretz''
Articles written by Joseph Dan
Israeli interview with Joseph Dan on the beginning of the Bible (Hebrew video)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dan, Joseph
1935 births
2022 deaths
People from Budapest
Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty
Israel Prize in Jewish thought recipients
Israeli Jews
Hungarian Jews
Jewish mysticism
Judaic scholars
Kabbalah
Hungarian emigrants to Israel
Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent