The Mystification of Kabbalah

This chapter examines how the application of the category of “mysticism” to Kabbalah and Hasidism shaped the image and practice of Kabbalah among the broader public. Subjugation of the Kabbalah to the category of mysticism led to an emphasis on Kabbalistic phenomena that were similar to what was perceived as mysticism, for example, reports of visions, ascension to other worlds, and union with God. Researchers assumed ecstatic visions and experiences underlay Kabbalistic texts, even when the text did not mention them. The chapter focuses on analyzing how the hegemonic perception of Kabbalah as “Jewish mysticism” led to a growing interest in the writings of the thirteenth-century Kabbalist Avraham Abulafia and to his description as the Jewish “mystic” par excellence. Despite Abulafia’s rejection from the traditional Kabbalistic canon, he became a current Kabbalistic cultural hero.

Introduction

The introduction presents Martin Buber’s early 20th century attempt to expose the existence of “Jewish mysticism,” and the later establishment of the academic study of Jewish mysticism by Geshom Scholem, and the revolution that occurred in the study of Jewish mysticsm in the 1980’s. The introduction outlines the genealogical study and critical examination of the concept and research field of Jewish mysticism that will be presented in the book, and explains that it seeks to expose the deep-rooted factors that have guided (and continue to guide) the identification of Kabbalah and Hasidism as mysticism, and how these influence the ways in which these movements are interpreted and studied. It discussed that two central claims that guide the discussion in this book. The first is that mysticism, in general, and Jewish mysticism, in particular, are not natural and universal phenomena that were discovered by researchers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Rather, these are discursive constructs which served to catalogue, compare, and explain a broad range of cultural products and social structures not necessarily related to one another. The second claim that guides the discussion of the study of Jewish mysticism involves the theological assumptions that underpin the category of mysticism.

“Authorized Guardians”

The chapter examines phenomena that remained outside the scope of what was considered Jewish mysticism: the topics scholars chose to ignore. It discusses how researchers of Jewish mysticism relate to contemporary Hasidic and Kabbalistic movements and examines why the category was not applied to these movements. The chapter examines the claim of Buber, Scholem, and many of their followers that the Hasidism of the eighteenth century was the final stage of Jewish mysticism. It reveals why later forms of Kabbalah and Hasidism were not regarded as authentic expressions of Jewish mysticism, and why they did not, therefore, receive any scholarly attention but were the object of contempt. In this chapter, I show that the disregard of Scholem and his pupils toward the Kabbalistic formations of their times derived from a national-theological position and an Orientalist ambivalence. The researchers of Jewish mysticism—who viewed themselves as the authorized guardians of the Kabbalah—believed that the authentic continuation of the Jewish mystical tradition was rather to be found in academic research, which would reveal the historical significance of Kabbalah and Hasidism, and their mystical and metaphysical origins.

The Modern Concept of Mysticism

This chapter deals with the genealogy of the modern category of mysticism as it was shaped in the late nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. The chapter examines the theological context of the modern definitions of mysticism. It shows that theological assumptions underlie a perennialist perception in which all mystical experiences are basically identical. These theological assumptions also have a bearing on the contextual approach to mysticism, according to which not only are the interpretations of mystical experiences shaped according to their cultural context but also the mystical experiences themselves. The chapter demonstrates that mysticism is a discursive construct and points out difficulties in applying it as an analytical category.

Epilogue

The epilogue to the book clarifies that this book took the opposite direction from the ongoing project of exposing the existence of Jewish mysticism and of subjugating Kabbalah and Hasidism to this category. Instead of assuming the universality of mysticism, and presupposing that Kabbalah and Hasidism are Jewish forms of mysticism, the book exposed how these assumptions were formed and the way they shaped the research and practice of Kabbalah and Hasidism. The book explored the historical contexts and discursive processes that shaped the construction of Jewish mysticism uncovered the political and theological presuppositions underlying the academic study of Jewish mysticism and showed how the theological paradigms of the academic discipline have defined the borders of this field, directed the creation of scientific knowledge, and determined the symbolic value of the researched data. The epilogue suggests that relinquishing “mysticism” as the major category for the conceptualization and study of Kabbalah and Hasidism may disengage the research field from theological presuppositions. This can open up the study of social, political, and economic aspects of Kabbalah that scholars of Jewish mysticism have neglected, enable a research of new historical and cultural contexts that were not taken hitherto into consideration, and encourage the study of Kabbalistic movements that were rejected by scholars as insignificant or inauthentic.

The New Age of Kabbalah Research

This chapter examines the new directions and perspectives that emerged in the research of Jewish mysticism in the late twentieth century. It discusses the theoretical and methodological changes that transpired that undermined many of Buber and Scholem’s basic assumptions but also the perseverance—and even intensification—of the use of the term mysticism as a fundamental category. The chapter demonstrates that the changes that occurred within the field were to a great extent delineated by the theological logic of the research field. The chapter examines definitions of mysticism among Kabbalah researchers and identifies their modern theological suppositions. This theological paradigm, I maintain, explains the ideological affinities between Kabbalah research and today’s alternative spiritual movements, first and foremost, the New Age.

Jewish Mysticism and National Theology

Chapter 2 examines the formation of the concept of Jewish mysticism, the identification of Kabbalah and Hasidism as Jewish forms of mysticism, and the construction of an academic research field dedicated to what was defined as “Jewish mysticism.” It describes the application of the adjective mystical to Kabbalah by Christian scholars since the seventeenth century, the appearance of the term “Jewish mysticism” in the writings of German Romantic theologians in the early nineteenth century, and the adoption of the term by Jewish scholars in Europe and the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century. It further examines the “revelation” of Jewish mysticism by Martin Buber and the establishment of the research field dedicated to Jewish mysticism by Gershom Scholem and his pupils. The chapter discusses the ideological and theological contexts in which the category of mysticism was shaped in the nineteenth century and the processes that led to the establishment of Jewish mysticism—as a category and as an academic research field—in the framework of modern theological-national discourse and as part of the Zionist nation-building endeavor.