Origins of the Kabbalah: Not Assigned

Gershom Gerhard Scholem

Published by Princeton University Press 2019

Origins of the Kabbalah

Not Assigned

Gershom Gerhard Scholem
Edited by: R. J. Zwi Werblowsky
Translated by: Allan Arkush
Preface by: David Biale

Volume 79 in the series Princeton Classics

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691184302

Overview
Contents

About this book

The Origins of the Kabbalah is a contribution not only to the history of Jewish medieval mysticism, but also to the study of medieval mysticism in general. Now with a new foreword by David Biale, this book remains essential reading for students of the history of religion.

Author / Editor information

Gershom Scholem (1897–1982) was a German-born Israeli philosopher and historian. He was professor of Jewish mysticism at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. David Biale is the Emanuel Ringelblum Distinguished Professor of Jewish History at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of Gershom Scholem: Master of the Kabbalah.

Reviews

“[Scholem’s] work on Jewish mysticism, messianism, and sectarianism, spanning now half a century, constitutes … one of the major achievements of the historical imagination in our time. I would contend that it is of vital interest not only to anyone concerned with the history of religion but to anyone struggling to understand the underlying problematics of the human predicament.”—Robert Alter, Commentary

“No great textual scholar, no master of philology and historical criticism commands a technique at once more scrupulously attentive to its object and more instinctive with the writer’s voice [than Scholem]. That voice reaches out and grabs the layman.”—George Steiner, New Yorker

“This book has been a classic in its field since it was first issued in 1950, and it still stands as uniquely authoritative and intriguingly instructive…. [It is] a monument of revelation and insight bridging anthropology, religion, sociology, and history.”—Publishers Weekly

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Sources Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Editor's Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Author’s Preface to the First (German) Edition Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Foreword Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
CHAPTER ONE. THE PROBLEM Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
CHAPTER TWO. THE BOOK BAHIR Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
CHAPTER THREE. THE FIRST KABBALISTS IN PROVENCE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
CHAPTER FOUR. THE KABBALISTIC CENTER IN GERONA Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	477