''Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism'' is a work on the history of the Jewish
Kabbalah
Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...
by
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 ...
, published in 1941.
Topics
In his introduction to ''Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism'', Scholem blames Jewish scholars of the
Haskalah
The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Euro ...
period, who, because of what he decried their antagonism and neglect of the study of Kabbalah, allowed the field be all but monopolized by "charlatans and dreamers".
Scholem's chapter on
Merkabah mysticism
Merkabah ( he, מֶרְכָּבָה ''merkāvā'', "chariot") or Merkavah mysticism (lit. Chariot mysticism) is a school of early Jewish mysticism, c. 100 BCE – 1000 CE, centered on visions such as those found in the Book of Ezekiel chapter ...
and Jewish gnosticism deals mainly with the mystical books
the ''Lesser Hechalot'' and the ''Greater Hechalot'', tracts written and edited between the 2nd and 6th centuries C.E. Scholem also writes on other tracts like ''
Shiur Koma'', the ''
Book of Enoch'', ''
Sefer Yetzira
''Sefer Yetzirah'' ( ''Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā'', ''Book of Formation'', or ''Book of Creation'') is the title of a book on Jewish mysticism, although some early commentators treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory as opposed ...
'' and the ''
Sefer Habahir''.
[Baumgardt, David.]
"Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, by Gershom G. Scholem."
''Commentary Magazine''. July 1, 1947.
In the book, Scholem, citing other scholars, observed similarities between the ''Sefer Yetzirah'' (Book of Creation) and early Islamic gnosticism.
Scholem subsequently explores the works of the German Jewish school of Hasidim, and of the works of
Abraham Abulafia
Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia ( he, אברהם בן שמואל אבולעפיה) was the founder of the school of "Prophetic Kabbalah". He was born in Zaragoza, Spain in 1240 and is assumed to have died sometime after 1291, following a stay on the ...
. Next, the most detailed investigation in Scholem's work is on the best known work of Jewish mysticism, the
Zohar
The ''Zohar'' ( he, , ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five ...
. After that, Scholem explores
Isaac Luria
Isaac ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi (1534Fine 2003, p24/ref> – July 25, 1572) ( he, יִצְחָק בן שלמה לוּרְיָא אשכנזי ''Yitzhak Ben Sh'lomo Lurya Ashkenazi''), commonly known in Jewish religious circles as "Ha'ARI" (mean ...
's teachings,
Sabbatai Zevi
Sabbatai Zevi (; August 1, 1626 – c. September 17, 1676), also spelled Shabbetai Ẓevi, Shabbeṯāy Ṣeḇī, Shabsai Tzvi, Sabbatai Zvi, and ''Sabetay Sevi'' in Turkish, was a Jewish mystic and ordained rabbi from Smyrna (now İzmir, Turk ...
and the Eastern European
Hasidic
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism ( Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of conte ...
movement.
[
]
Commemoration
On the 50th anniversary of the book's publication, a conference of scholars convened in Berlin in Scholem's honor.[Schäfer, Peter, and Joseph Dan, eds. ''Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism 50 Years After: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on the History of Jewish Mysticism''. Mohr Siebeck, 1993.]
See also
* 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 ...
References
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism''
1941 books
Books by Gershom Scholem