The Father of Jewish Mysticism

The Writing of Gershom Scholem

Daniel Weidner, Sage Anderson

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9780253062086
• eBook ISBN: 9780253062109
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Jewish History
• Index: Literature

The Father of Jewish Mysticism offers an incisive look at the early life and writings of Gershom Scholem (1897–1982), the father of modern Jewish mysticism and a major 20th-century Jewish intellectual.

Daniel Weidner offers the first full-length study, published in English, of Scholem's thought. Scholem, a historian ofthe Kabbalah and sharp critic of Jewish assimilation, played a major role in the study and popularization of Jewish mysticism.

Through his work on the Kabbalah, Scholem turned the closed world of mystical texts into a force for Jewish identity. Skillfully drawing on Scholem's early diaries and writings, The Father of Jewish Mysticism introduces a young, soon-to-be legendary intellectual in search of himself and Judaism.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Abbreviations of Frequently Cited Works by Gershom Scholem
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Intellectual History and Writing: What It Means to Read Gershom Scholem
• Part 1. Positioning Speech: Scholem’s Political Education
• Part 2. Practicing Theory: Scholem’s Early Reading
• Part 3. Producing History: Scholem’s Scholarship
• Conclusion: Authority and Silence
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author