ON THE KABBALAH - Softcover

Scholem, G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805202358 ISBN 13: 9780805202359

Publisher: Schocken Books, 1969

Synopsis

Learn about the Kabbalah and its symbolism

About this title

Review:

Gershom Scholem, who died in 1982, remains the biggest gun in kabbalah scholarship, and On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism is perhaps his most accessible book on the subject. It contains definitive essays on the relation of the Torah to Jewish mysticism, the mythology of the kabbalah, and the place of Jewish mystics in the Jewish community. This book helped reinvigorate 20th-century Jewish studies with an awareness of the living reality of God, after the 19th century's more astringent scholarly emphasis on law and philosophy. It shows how Jewish mystics have been less concerned with adherence to orthodoxy than their Christian counterparts, and freer in their expression of the divine aspects of eroticism. Furthermore, Scholem offers great insight regarding the ways that kabbalah has not only threatened the authority of institutional religion, but also served as a source of its vitality. --Michael Joseph Gross

From the Inside Flap:

In "On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, Gershom Scholem guides the reader through the central themes in the intricate history of the Kabbalah, clarifying the relations between mysticism and established religious authority, the mystics' interpretation of the Torah and their attempts to discover the hidden meaning underlying Scripture, the tension between the philosophical and the mystical concepts of God, and the symbolism employed in mystical religion.

About this edition

• Publisher: Schocken Books
• Publication date: 1969
• ISBN 10: 0805202358
• ISBN 13: 9780805202359
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216