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Joseph Dan (, 1935 – 23 July 2022) was an Israeli scholar of
/ref> As a teenager Dan studied at the Hebrew University High School. Later, in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Dan began a double major in
Joseph Dan's web page (archived)Interview with Joseph Dan in ''Haaretz''A comprehensive History of Jewish Mysticism
Kabbalah, a newsletter of current research in Jewish mysticism, Volume 2, Number 3, Fall/Winter 1987, Tevet 5748, Jerusalem, pp. 1, 6 - 8, on Academia.edu. Interview.]
Books written by Joseph DanArticles written by Joseph DanIsraeli interview with Joseph Dan on the beginning of the Bible (Hebrew video)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dan, Joseph 1935 births 2022 deaths People from Budapest Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel Prize in Jewish thought recipients Hungarian Jews in Israel Jewish mysticism Kabbalistic scholars Hungarian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent 20th-century Israeli Jews 21st-century Israeli Jews Hebrew University Secondary School alumni Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
Joseph Dan (, 1935 – 23 July 2022) was an Israeli scholar of Jewish mysticism
Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's ''Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism'' (1941), draws distinctions between different forms of mysticism which were practiced in different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbal ...
. He taught for over 40 years in the Department of Jewish Thought
Jewish thought (, ''Machshevet Yisrael''), 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, and their historical development. The field a ...
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
. He was the first incumbent of the Gershom Scholem
Gershom Scholem (; 5 December 1897 – 21 February 1982) was an Israeli philosopher and historian. Widely regarded as the founder of modern academic study of the Kabbalah, Scholem was appointed the first professor of Jewish mysticism at Hebrew Un ...
Chair in Jewish Mysticism at The Hebrew University.
Biography
Dan was born in 1935 inBudapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...
, from where, at the age of four, he and his family fled out of fear of Nazism
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
, settling later in Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
. All the biographical documents about Joseph Dan (including his own website) give his birthplace as Bratislava
Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
, Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
, a version created by his father to escape repatriation by the British government in British Mandate Palestine.Sheleg, Yair, ''Mystic Circles'', in ''ha-Aretz'', 23.10.08/ref> As a teenager Dan studied at the Hebrew University High School. Later, in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Dan began a double major in
Assyriology
Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia''), also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cuneiform writing. The fie ...
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
Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite Biblical prophet, prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah ...
, his thesis titled ''The Speculative Basis of the Ethical Teachings of Chassidei Ashkenaz
The Hasidim of Ashkenaz (, trans. ''Hasidei Ashkenaz''; "German Pietists") were a Jewish mystical, ascetic movement in the German Rhineland during the 12th and 13th centuries.
The movement is known for its strict asceticism and mystical doctrin ...
''.Hebrew: "הבסיס העיוני לתורת המוסר של חסידות אשכנז"
Having written more than 60 books, he had published by the time of his death the first thirteen volumes of a project titled "Toledot Torat Hasod Ha'ivrit" ("History of Hebraic Mysticism and Esotericism", Zalman Shazar Center, Jerusalem), which he described 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".
Books
''Kabbalah: Oxford Very Short Introduction.'' Oxford University Press. 2006.Awards
In 1997, Dan was awarded theIsrael Prize
The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor.
History
Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...
, for Jewish thought.
See also
*List of Israel Prize recipients
This is an incomplete list of recipients of the Israel Prize from the inception of the Prize in 1953 - 2025.
List
For each year, the recipients are, in most instances, listed in the order in which they appear on the official Israel Prize website ...
References
External links
Joseph Dan's web page (archived)
Kabbalah, a newsletter of current research in Jewish mysticism, Volume 2, Number 3, Fall/Winter 1987, Tevet 5748, Jerusalem, pp. 1, 6 - 8, on Academia.edu. Interview.]
Books written by Joseph Dan
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dan, Joseph 1935 births 2022 deaths People from Budapest Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israel Prize in Jewish thought recipients Hungarian Jews in Israel Jewish mysticism Kabbalistic scholars Hungarian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent 20th-century Israeli Jews 21st-century Israeli Jews Hebrew University Secondary School alumni Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni