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Simon Rocker

By

Simon Rocker,

Simon Rocker

Opinion

Man of mystery

June 14, 2013 12:54
1 min read

Kabbalah was once dismissed as medieval mumbo-jumbo that no self-respecting Jew in the West would give any time to.

Now the mystical tradition is widely recognised as the extraordinary product of the Jewish religious imagination and an enduring source of spiritual insight.

That is no small measure due to Gershom Scholem, the German-born Israeli scholar (1897-1982), who gave academic respectability to the study of Kabbalah.

On Monday to Wednesday next week, the Institute of Jewish Studies in London is devoting its summer conference to Scholem’s work.