On the Possibility of and Justification for a Philosophical Interpretation of Kabbalah: The Scholem-Gordin Correspondence

This article introduces and discusses a short correspondence that took place in November 1931 between Gershom Scholem and Jacob Gordin. Gordin was a Russian-Jewish philosopher of religion, an expert on Hermann Cohen, and a founding figure of the postwar Paris School of Jewish Thought. The initial mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Naharaim
Main Author: Werdiger, Ori (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:German
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Published: De Gruyter [2020]
In: Naharaim
Further subjects:B Kabbalah and the History of Philosophy
B Abraham Cohen Herrera
B Johann Gottlieb Fichte
B Jacob Gordin
B Gershom Scholem
B German Idealism
B Jewish Thought
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
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Description
Summary:This article introduces and discusses a short correspondence that took place in November 1931 between Gershom Scholem and Jacob Gordin. Gordin was a Russian-Jewish philosopher of religion, an expert on Hermann Cohen, and a founding figure of the postwar Paris School of Jewish Thought. The initial motivation for the correspondence was Scholem’s wish to produce a critical edition of the 17th century kabbalistic work, Shaar Hashamayim by Abraham Cohen Herrera, for which he asked for Gordin’s help. A close reading of Gordin’s response to Scholem and Scholem’s belated response to Gordin highlight the respective views of these thinkers regarding the relationship between kabbalah and Western philosophy in the modern era, and in German idealism in particular. The article is followed by a translation of the correspondence.
ISSN:1862-9156
Contains:Enthalten in: Naharaim
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1515/naha-2020-0005