The letter of Isaac the Blind to Nahmanides and Jonah Gerondi in its historical context
In 1934 Gershom Scholem published a very important letter that Isaac the Blind wrote to Nahmanides and Jonah Gerondi in the 1230s. The common assumption in the scholarship was that the letter addresses two classical problems at the heart of Kabbalistic literature: the problem of esotericism versus e...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
2021
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| In: |
Journal of Jewish studies
Year: 2021, Volume: 72, Issue: 2, Pages: 327-348 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In 1934 Gershom Scholem published a very important letter that Isaac the Blind wrote to Nahmanides and Jonah Gerondi in the 1230s. The common assumption in the scholarship was that the letter addresses two classical problems at the heart of Kabbalistic literature: the problem of esotericism versus exotericism and the issue of the heretical potential of sefirotic lore. I suggest a different reading, which takes into account sociological and theological events that occurred during the 1230s. According to my argument, the first part of the letter refers to an accusation of impurity in Jonah Gerondi’s family. The second part of the letter refers to the worship of mediators, which was associated with a medieval binitarian belief, was not sefirotic and was widespread in that area. |
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| ISSN: | 2056-6689 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Jewish studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.18647/3506/jjs-2021 |