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franchenstein's review against another edition
5.0
The approach to Jewish Mysticism taken by Gershom Scholem is right on point. He acts and writes as a researcher, with historical, anthropological and psychological curiosity about the subject and without regarding it as necessarily true, with sufficient scientific distance. At the same time, he treats it with the utmost respect, not as if he is dealing with the backwards ideologies of backwater savages, but he studies it with the care and interest of a Jewish man looking at a fascinating aspect of his tradition, one which is still alive and developing.
The book is a mix of inquiry into the historical developments of said trends, starting from the gnostic-like Merkabah mysticism and then going through the various stages of kabbalistic thought, from the Zohar, to the Safed School up to modern Hasidism. Some fascinating stories which I never heard about were also told about the medieval German Hasidism and Abraham Abulafia's mystic system. Finally, the story of Sabbatianism, which I was slightly aware of, was elucidated in further detail and I came to know its long-lasting impacts more fully.
But it not only covers the historical aspects, but also serves as an introduction to further research into Jewish mysticism, going over subjects like the Helakhot and the descent into God's throne, the system of the Sefirot, the tsimtsum, breaking of the vessels and Tikkun and even to the holiness of Sin of the most radical Sabbateans. I can't wait to read further texts from Scholem.
The book is a mix of inquiry into the historical developments of said trends, starting from the gnostic-like Merkabah mysticism and then going through the various stages of kabbalistic thought, from the Zohar, to the Safed School up to modern Hasidism. Some fascinating stories which I never heard about were also told about the medieval German Hasidism and Abraham Abulafia's mystic system. Finally, the story of Sabbatianism, which I was slightly aware of, was elucidated in further detail and I came to know its long-lasting impacts more fully.
But it not only covers the historical aspects, but also serves as an introduction to further research into Jewish mysticism, going over subjects like the Helakhot and the descent into God's throne, the system of the Sefirot, the tsimtsum, breaking of the vessels and Tikkun and even to the holiness of Sin of the most radical Sabbateans. I can't wait to read further texts from Scholem.
javorstein's review against another edition
4.0
REALLY well-written book even though it was far more historical than i expected and thus a little boring. traced the history of kabbalistic thought in a really interesting way, showing its evolution through abulafia, akiva, ben yochai, luria, and even sabbatai zevi. LOVE seeing an actually grounded analysis of zevi instead of just typical demonization. his antinomianism was put into philosophical context instead of just being displayed as somehow 'anti-jewish' which was very cool. nathan of gaza seemed very bad though
lauren_endnotes's review against another edition
3.0
This was the textbook for my Jewish Mysticism book in college - it was extremely dense reading, with sentences spanning the length of a half page... that being said, it was amazingly informative. It covered many of the major trends in Jewish mysticism from the ancient Merkavah through the Zohar and Kabbalah into modern Hasidism. I don't know if there is another book out there that covers so much...
mikuthemuso's review against another edition
3.0
Gershom Scholem has been hyped a lot as writer and scholar of Jewish Mysticism. I found that I didn't connect with this book on an emotional or spiritual level. I know these are transcriptions of his lecture notes but I didn't find his comments on Hasidism, Sabbatai Tsvi particularly that insightful or interesting. The best part of the book for me was the discussion of Hekhalot literature and Merkabah mysticism. I already know the basics of the Kabbalah and the Sefirot, and the Hasidic figures and found that his comments regarding these Jewish Mystical concepts weren't as gripping to read. The book is very much a stream of consciousness.
shuly's review against another edition
4.0
This isn't for the faint of heart, but for someone who doesn't mind somewhat inaccessible academic language and has a true interest in Jewish mysticism, this is a must read. Scholem covers a thousand years of mysticism in several hundred pages, which makes it incredibly dense but also keeps it moving relatively quickly. It's the kind of work that you read through once then come back and delve into the primary sources.
One complaint: the romanization of Hebrew words is absolutely abysmal and often obscures words' meanings. I am an observant Jew and even I was puzzled the first time I encountered relatively commonly used words like mitswoth (mitzvot)!
One complaint: the romanization of Hebrew words is absolutely abysmal and often obscures words' meanings. I am an observant Jew and even I was puzzled the first time I encountered relatively commonly used words like mitswoth (mitzvot)!
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