Academic-

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

research into

Jewish mysticism Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's ''Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism'' (1941), distinguishes between different forms of mysticism across different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbalah, which emerged in 1 ...

is a modern multi-discipline

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

branch of

Jewish studies Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; he, מדעי היהדות, madey ha-yahadut, sciences of Judaism) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (esp ...

. It studies the texts and historical contexts of Judaic mysticism using objective historical-critical methods of Religious studies, such as

Philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

, History of ideas,

Social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

and

Phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

. The historical development of Jewish mysticism under study covers the range of phases, forms and expressions, from early Rabbinic Merkabah mysticism, through Medieval Hasidei Ashkenaz and Classical Kabbalah, early-modern Safed Kabbalah and

Sabbateanism The Sabbateans (or Sabbatians) were a variety of Jewish followers, disciples, and believers in Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676), a Sephardic Jewish rabbi and Kabbalist who was proclaimed to be the Jewish Messiah in 1666 by Nathan of Gaza. Vast n ...

, to modern

Hasidism 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 contem ...

and 20th century expressions. It is often seen as a parallel field to academic research into rationalist

Jewish philosophy Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until modern ''Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconcile ...

, though some scholars contribute in both areas. In Israel both subjects, together with Ethical literature, share the umbrella department of

Jewish thought Jewish thought ( he, מחשבת ישראל, ''Machshevet Yisrael'', or ''machshavah''), also known as Judaic thought or Hebraic thought, is a field of Jewish studies that deals with the products of Jewish thought and culture throughout the ages, an ...

. Historical research into Jewish mysticism was first prepared by the 19th century

Wissenschaft des Judentums "''Wissenschaft des Judentums''" (Literally in German the expression means "Science of Judaism"; more recently in the US it started to be rendered as "Jewish Studies" or "Judaic Studies," a wide academic field of inquiry in American Universities) ...

school, whose

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

ignored, opposed or downplayed Kabbalah. The founding of the present flourishing University discipline is attributed to Gershom Scholem and his school in the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

in the 20th century, whose historiography positioned Jewish mysticism as a mainstream vitalising source in the centre of Jewish development. A second generation of scholars are today found in Israel, the United States and Europe. The field is broadly divided into three camps: # Professors/researchers of Jewish mysticism/thought in academia, who study Jewish mysticism through its internal textual development # Professors/researchers of Jewish history/society in academia, who contribute to the study of Jewish mysticism through its external social contexts # Independent historian researchers outside of Universities, who follow a religious historiography, but use the scholarly academic apparatus of research, sourcing and presentation. This research is most common in relation to Hasidism, due to its social popularisation of Kabbalah. These works are not usually cited in the critical-methodology of academia, but work is being done to examine their findings Spiritual figures within the Jewish mystical tradition are not listed here, but in

Timeline List of Jewish Kabbalists This article lists figures in Kabbalah according to historical chronology and schools of thought. In popular reference, Kabbalah has been used to refer to the whole history of Jewish mysticism, but more accurately, and as used in academic Jewis ...

. Contemporary teachers of Jewish mysticism across the

Jewish denominations Jewish religious movements, sometimes called "religious denomination, denominations", include different groups within Judaism which have developed among Jews from ancient times. Today, the most prominent divisions are between traditionalist Ortho ...

, listed there, should only be listed here if they also publish scholarly-form historical research into Jewish mysticism. Academic scholars of Jewish mysticism have followed a diverse range in personal belief commitment or detachment to Jewish mysticism, independent of their research.

Prelude historians of Judaism before Scholem

* Heinrich Graetz (1817–1891) (

, disparaged Kabbalah) *

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

1901-1906 (

) * Simon Dubnow (1860–1941) (historian and folkist ideologue, initial Hasidism history) * Moses Gaster (1856–1939) (folklorist) * Isaac Broyde (1867–1922) (author of Jewish Encyclopedia articles) * Adolf Jellinek (1821–1893) (Austrian Rabbi and scholar)

Academic scholars of Jewish mysticism/thought

Israel

* Gershom Scholem (1897–1982) (Founder of academic discipline, Hebrew University, new historiography represented in Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971–1972) * Martin Buber (1878–1965) (Interpretation of Hasidism to his own Existentialist Philosophy, Hebrew University, founder of Neo-Hasidism) *

Joseph Dan 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 Chair ...

(1935–2022) (Scholem chair at Hebrew University) *

Moshe Idel Moshe Idel ( he, משה אידל; born January 19, 1947) is a Romanian-Israeli historian and philosopher of Jewish mysticism. He is Emeritus Max Cooper Professor in Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and a Senior Researcher at the ...

(1947-) (revision of Scholem's views and Ecstatic Kabbalah''Kabbalah: New Perspectives'', Moshe Idel, Yale University Press 1990) *

Rachel Elior Rachel Elior (born 28 December 1949) is an Israeli professor of Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Jerusalem, Israel. Her principal subjects of research has been Hasidism and the history of early Jewish mysticism. Academ ...

(1949-) (Hebrew University) *

Jonathan Garb Jonathan Garb ( he, יהונתן גארב, born 1967) is an Israeli scholar of Kabbalah. He is holder of the Gershom Scholem chair in Kabbalah (together with Prof. Yehuda Liebes) in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jer ...

(1967-) (Hebrew University) * Boaz Huss (1959-) (Ben Gurion University)

United States

* Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) (Neo-Hasidic philosopher and theologian, Jewish Theological Seminary) * Alexander Altmann (1906–1987) (a founding figure in US, also scholar of Jewish philosophy, taught Brandeis University) *

Elliot Wolfson Elliot R. Wolfson (born November 23, 1956) is a scholar of Jewish studies. Wolfson earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in philosophy at Queens College of the City University of New York, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Near Eastern and Judaic studies f ...

(1956-) (University of California, Santa Barbara) *

Arthur Green Arthur Green ( he, אברהם יצחק גרין, born March 21, 1941) is an American scholar of Jewish mysticism and Neo-Hasidic theologian. He was a founding dean of the non-denominational rabbinical program at Hebrew College in Boston, where he ...

(1941-) (Hasidism scholar, also Reconstructionist/Neo-Hasidic theologian, Hebrew College, Boston) *

Norman Lamm Norman Lamm (December 19, 1927 – May 31, 2020) was an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, scholar, academic administrator, author, and Jewish community leader. He was the Chancellor of Yeshiva University until he announced his retirement on July 1 ...

(1927–2020) (Modern Orthodox leader, Hasidic-Mitnagdic study, Yeshiva University) *

Allan Nadler Allan L. Nadler (born May 8, 1954) is Wallerstein Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and Former Director of the Jewish Studies Program at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Biography Nadler was born in Montreal, Quebec, and was educated ...

(1954-) (Mitnagdic response to Hasidism) *

Daniel C. Matt Daniel Chanan Matt is a scholar of Kabbalah and a professor at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. from Brandeis University and taught at Stanford University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Matt is best known f ...

(academic translation of the Zohar) *

Shaul Magid Shaul Magid (born June 16, 1958) is the Distinguished Fellow in Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College. From 2004-2018 he was a professor of religious studies and the Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein Chair of Jewish Studies in Modern Judaism at Indiana U ...

(Indiana University)

Europe

Louis Jacobs Louis Jacobs (17 July 1920 – 1 July 2006) was a leading writer and theologian. He was the rabbi of the New London Synagogue in the United Kingdom. He was also the focus in the early 1960s of what became known as "The Jacobs Affair" in the ...

(1920–2006) (London, Hasidic studies, Conservative Judaism theologian) George Vajda (Medieval Kabbalah)

Religious historiography researchers of Jewish mysticism

Israel

United States

* Aryeh Kaplan (Meditation and the Prophets, Kabbalistic Meditation, Breslov Hasidic history) *

Jacob Immanuel Schochet Jacob Immanuel Schochet (August 27, 1935 – July 27, 2013) was a Swiss-born Canadian rabbi who wrote on Hasidism. He was a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Biography Schochet's parents were Dov Yehuda and Sarah Schochet. Shortly after ...

(Habad Hasidic history) *

Nathaniel Deutsch Nathaniel Deutsch is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he holds the Baumgarten Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies. He is also the Director of the Center for Jewish Studies and the Director of the Humanities Institute. Car ...

(Kabbalah, Merkabah and Hasisdism)

Europe

Elsewhere

References

External links

Don Karr's Bibliographic Surveys
of contemporary historian scholarship on all traditions in Jewish mysticism {{DEFAULTSORT:Jewish mysticism scholars * Hasidic Judaism Judaic studies Jewish historians Mysticism academics Religious studies scholars Lists of theologians and religious studies scholars

Prelude historians of Judaism before Scholem

Academic scholars of Jewish mysticism/thought

Israel

United States

Europe

Religious historiography researchers of Jewish mysticism

Israel

United States

Europe

Elsewhere

See also

References

External links