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On the Possibility of Jewish Mysticism in Our Time

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Reading this book was an especially pleasant experience for me. Scholem the great scholar who opened to the world the whole hidden treasure of 'Jewish Mysticism' here writes on a number of the subjects which occupied him throughout his long career. He tells the story of his first turning to Jewish studies, the rebellion against his German patriot father and family upbringing, the beginning study of Hebrew, the decision to move to Eretz Yisrael, the meeting with Bialik, the attaining of a place at Hebrew University, the probing of manuscripts which for hundreds of years were neglected by other scholars. Scholem writes too of the situation of Jewish culture as a whole. He has a long and devastating critique of the scholars of the 'Haskalah' who demonized much of Jewish learning. He speaks of the effort in Eretz Yisrael to create a new kind of Jewish culture. He speaks about the relative absence of Jewish mysticism in his own time, and yet writes with understanding of the mystical strain in the writing of Rav Kook. He speaks about the quest for peace, the relation to the Arabs. And here as a person of Brit Sholem he tells of how the repeated Jewish efforts to meet with Arabs often ended tragically. And this because any Arab elements open to dialogue were terrorized and even murdered.
In writing of 'Mysticism ' at the outset he explains a fundamental difference between Jewish and other mysticism, one which for many means there is no real Jewish Mysticism. Scholem claims that the complete unification with God mystics claim to be the central experience of religion- is not what is claimed by Jewish seekers of God. The Jewish 'mystics' always preserve the distinction between themselves and what is Transcendent. It is interesting that Scholem's pupil Moshe Idel will qualify Scholem on this score.
Scholem too writes convincingly of his own Zionism , of the radical change in Jewish history which came with the return of the Jewish people to their holy land.
This is an inspiring, thought- provoking uplifting set of essays. A good introducation by Scholem's pupil Abraham Shapira and a masterful translation by Jonathan Chipman add to the pleasure of the volume.