Gershom Scholem

Scholem — Sabbatai Ṣevi: The Mystical Messiah (1973; Princeton Classics, 2016) [DECLARED]

Scholem — On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism (1965) [DECLARED]

Scholem — Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941) [DECLARED]

Scholem — Origins of the Kabbalah (1987) [DECLARED]

Cábala · Commentator

«There is no mysticism as such, there is only the mysticism of a particular religious system» — su regla de método, y una advertencia contra la comparación fácil: no hay una mística universal de la que las tradiciones sean variantes.

«Mysticism does not deny or overlook the abyss; on the contrary, it begins by realizing its existence» — su descripción del punto de partida místico: el abismo entre Dios y el hombre no se niega, se reconoce y luego se busca el paso. El tramo vuelve dentro del pasaje largo sobre la forma clásica de la religión, que la ficha de obra ancla en la plana anterior.

«For in its classical form, religion signifies the creation of a vast abyss, conceived as absolute, between God, the infinite and transcendental Being, and Man, the finite creature. For this reason alone, the rise of institutional religion, which is also the classical stage in the history of religion, is more widely removed than any other period from mysticism and all it implies. Man becomes aware of a fundamental duality, of a vast gulf which can be crossed by nothing but the voice; the voice of God, directing and law-giving in His revelation, and the voice of man in prayer. The great monotheistic religions live and unfold in the ever-present consciousness of this bipolarity, of the existence of an abyss which can never be bridged. To them the scene of religion is no longer Nature, but the moral and religious action of man and the community of men, whose interplay brings about history as, in a sense, the stage on which the drama of man’s relation to God unfolds. And only now that religion has received, in history, its classical expression in a certain communal way of living and believing, only now do we witness the phenomenon called mysticism; its rise coincides with what may be called the romantic period of religion. Mysticism does not deny or overlook the abyss; on the contrary, it begins by realizing its existence, but from there it proceeds to a quest for the secret that will close it in, the hidden path that will span it. It strives to piece together the fragments broken by the religious cataclysm, to bring back the old unity which religion has destroyed, but on a new plane, where the world of mythology and that of revelation meet in the soul of man.» — cómo define la forma clásica de la religión, y por qué la sitúa lo más lejos posible de la mística: la conciencia de una dualidad fundamental.

«All in all, it may be said that the purpose of this book is not to give a complete historical account of Jewish mysticism but an outline of its principal features in the form of an analysis of some of its most important phases. A comprehensive critical history of Jewish mysticism, with special reference to all the various currents and cross-currents of Kabbalism, would require several volumes. Since these lectures were not intended exclusively for research students in this field but for the much wider circle of those who take an interest in questions of Jewish history and religion, I have laid greater stress on the analysis and interpretation of mystical thought than on the historical links between the various systems. Where it was possible without introducing too much philological detail I have nevertheless sketched the historical connections at least in outline. Only in the lecture on the Book Zohar and its author have I departed from this rule and attempted a more thorough philological analysis.» — acota el alcance de Major Trends: no una historia completa de la mística judía sino un esbozo de sus rasgos principales por análisis de algunas de sus fases.

«It is a remarkable fact that the very term Kabbalah under which it has become best known, is derived from an historical concept. Kabbalah means literally “tradition”, in itself an excellent example of the paradoxical nature of mysticism to which I have referred before. The very doctrine which centres about the immediate personal contact with the Divine, that is to say, a highly personal and intimate form of knowledge, is conceived as traditional wisdom. The fact is, however, that the idea of Jewish mysticism from the start combined the conception of a knowledge which by its very nature is difficult to impart and therefore secret, with that of a knowledge which is the secret tradition of chosen spirits or adepts. Jewish mysticism, therefore, is a secret doctrine in a double sense, a characteristic which cannot be said to apply to all forms of mysticism. It is a secret doctrine because it treats of the most deeply hidden and fundamental matters of human life; but it is secret also because it is confined to a small élite of the chosen who impart the knowledge to their disciples.» — «tradición» — la paradoja que le interesa: la doctrina del contacto personal inmediato con lo divino se llama a sí misma tradición.

«This exclusively masculine character of Kabbalism was by no means the result of the social position of Jewish women or their exclusion from Talmudic learning. Scholasticism was as much exclusively a domain of men as Talmudism, and yet the social position of women in Islam and in Mediaeval Christianity did not prevent their playing a highly important part among the representatives—though not the theoreticians—of Islamic and Christian mysticism. It is hardly possible to conceive Catholic mysticism without them.» — consigna el carácter exclusivamente masculino del cabalismo y descarta que se explique por la posición social de la mujer judía, con el contraste del islam y la cristiandad medieval.

«This pseudepigraphy was, in my opinion, based on two impulses, psychological and historic. The psychological stimulus emanates from modesty and the feeling that a Kabbalist who had been vouchsafed the gift of inspiration should shun ostentation. The historic impulse, on the other hand, was bound up with the desire to influence the writer’s contemporaries. Hence the search for historic continuity and the sanctification of authority, and the tendency to lend to Kabbalistic literature the lustre of some great name from Biblical or Talmudic times. The Zohar, or the “Book of Splendor”, is the most famous, but by no means the sole example, of such pseudepigraphy.» — los dos impulsos que adjudica a la pseudoepigrafía cabalística, marcados como opinión suya: el psicológico de la modestia y el histórico del deseo de influir en los contemporáneos.

«Here we have one of the most important points of difference between Merkabah mysticism and Kabbalism; the latter is distinguished by renewed interest in purely cosmogonic speculation, whose spirit often enough is entirely Gnostic. In the earlier literature—certainly during the phase represented by the Hekhaloth—theoretical questions have no place; its spirit is descriptive, not speculative» — la diferencia que fija entre la mística de la Merkabah y el cabalismo: el interés renovado en la especulación cosmogónica, de espíritu a menudo gnóstico.

«It must be emphasized that these tendencies are alien to the spirit of Hekhaloth literature; we find in it none of that symbolic interpretation of the Merkabah which was later revived and perfected by the Kabbalists. Its subject is never man, be he even a saint. The form of mysticism which it represents takes no particular interest in man as such; its gaze is fixed on God and his aura, the radiant sphere of the Merkabah, to the exclusion of everything else. For the same reason it made no contribution to the development of a new moral ideal of the truly pious Jew. All its originality is on the ecstatical side, while the moral aspect is starved, so to speak, of life.» — lo que dice de la literatura de Hekhaloth: su tema nunca es el hombre, ni siquiera el santo, y su mirada está fija en Dios y su aura.

«In countless polemics he condemns magic as a falsification of true mysticism;94 he does admit a magic directed towards one’s own self, a magic of inwardness—I think that is the general name one could give to his doctrine—but none which aims at bringing about external sensory results, even though the means may be inward, permissible and even sacred. Such magic is possible, according to Abulafia, but he who practices it is accursed.» — cómo nombra la doctrina de Abulafia, con la salvedad de que el nombre es suyo: una magia de la interioridad, sin resultados sensibles externos.

«But this path runs along the border between mysticism and magic, and for all the irreconcilable difference that appears to exist between the two, their interrelation is more profound than is usually taken for granted. There are certain points at which the belief of the mystic easily becomes that of the magician, and Abulafia’s magic of inwardness, which I have just outlined, is one of them. Although he himself escaped the danger of sliding insensibly from the meditative contemplation of the holy names into magical practices aimed at external objects, many of his successors fell into confusion and tended to expect from the inward path the power to change the outer world. The magician’s dream of power and lordship over nature by mere words and strained intention, found its dreamers in the Ghetto also and formed manifold combinations with the theoretical and practical interests of mysticism proper. Historically, Kabbalism presents itself almost invariably as a combination of the two.» — sostiene que la relación entre mística y magia es más honda de lo que suele darse por sentado, pese a la diferencia irreconciliable que parece haber.

«During these years of travel, he steeped himself in philosophy and conceived for Maimonides an admiration that proved lifelong. For him there was no antithesis between mysticism and the doctrines of Maimonides. He rather considered his own mystical theory as the final step forward from the “Guide of the Perplexed” to which he wrote a curious mystical commentary.» — lo que consigna de la relación de Abulafia con Maimónides: no veía antítesis entre mística y doctrina maimonidea.

«The key to the understanding of the Kabbalistic books seemed to have been lost.» — el diagnóstico sobre el punto de partida de su propio trabajo: la clave de esos libros parecía perdida.

«For in the late eighteenth century, when the Jews of Western Europe turned so resolutely to European culture, one of the first and most important elements of their old heritage to be sacrificed was the Kabbalah.» — la fecha y el motivo que adjudica a esa pérdida: al volcarse a la cultura europea a fines del siglo XVIII, lo primero que el judaísmo occidental sacrificó de su herencia fue la cábala.

«But this world has been lost to European Jewry. Down to our own generation, students of Jewish history showed little understanding for the documents of the Kabbalah and ignored them almost completely.» — el contraste que plantea: para el judaísmo europeo ese mundo se perdió y los historiadores judíos ignoraron sus documentos casi por completo.

«Jewish mysticism with its intricate, introverted symbolism was felt to be alien and disturbing» — cómo dice que se la sintió entonces: ajena y perturbadora por su simbolismo intrincado y vuelto hacia dentro.

«Scholars were perplexed and embarrassed by this world, which, instead of offering clear and simple concepts that could be developed, presented symbols of a very special kind, in which the spiritual experience of the mystics was almost inextricably intertwined with the historical experience of the Jewish people.» — la razón que da del desconcierto de los estudiosos: la cábala no ofrece conceptos claros sino símbolos donde la experiencia espiritual va entretejida con la histórica.

«It is this interweaving of two realms, which in most other religious mysticisms have remained separate, that gave the Kabbalah its specific imprint.» — para él ese entretejido es lo propio de la cábala: en casi todas las demás místicas religiosas los dos planos permanecen separados.

«Small wonder that it seems strange to students of Christian mysticism, since it does not fit into the categories of ‘mysticism’ with which they are familiar.» — la consecuencia que saca: la cábala le resulta extraña a quien estudia mística cristiana porque no cabe en sus categorías.

«The more sordid, pitiful, and cruel the fragment of historical reality allotted to the Jew amid the storms of exile, the deeper and more precise the symbolic meaning it assumed, and the more radiant became the Messianic hope which burst through it and transfigured it.» — la relación inversa que propone entre desdicha histórica y densidad simbólica.

«At the heart of this reality lay a great image of rebirth, the myth of exile and redemption, which assumed such vast dimensions with the Kabbalists and accounts for their prolonged historical influence.» — el núcleo de esa relación: el mito de exilio y redención como gran imagen de renacimiento, al que atribuye la larga influencia histórica de los cabalistas.

«For in the books of the Kabbalists the personal element is almost negligible and so veiled in all manner of disguises that we must look very closely to find it.» — una advertencia de lectura: en los libros cabalísticos lo personal es casi nulo y va tan disfrazado que hay que buscarlo de cerca.

«Very rarely did a Kabbalist speak of his own way to God» — de ahí que declare que el cabalista casi nunca habló de su propio camino hacia Dios.

«And the chief interest of the Kabbalah for us does not lie in such statements, but in the light it throws on the ‘historical psychology’ of the Jews.» — desplaza el interés del testimonio personal a otra cosa: lo que la cábala alumbra es la psicología histórica de los judíos.

«Research in this field involves an enormous responsibility. In digging up and evaluating the material, a scholar must make every effort to preserve a critical attitude.» — la exigencia que se pone a sí mismo al desenterrar y evaluar el material: mantener una actitud crítica.

«For long before historians became interested in Jewish mysticism, charlatans and cranks were drawn to it. This was of doubtful benefit to the study of the Kabbalah.» — y por qué la exige: antes que los historiadores llegaron al asunto charlatanes y excéntricos, con beneficio dudoso para el estudio de la cábala.

«We shall start from the assumption that a mystic, insofar as he participates actively in the religious life of a community, does not act in the void.» — el supuesto declarado con que abre el primer ensayo: el místico que participa de la vida religiosa de una comunidad no obra en el vacío.

«A mystic is a man who has been favored with an immediate, and to him real, experience of the divine, of ultimate reality, or who at least strives to attain such experience.» — la definición que da de místico, con la puerta abierta a quien solo aspira a esa experiencia.

«No historian can say—nor is it his business to answer such questions— whether a given mystic in the course of his individual religious experience actually found what he was so eagerly looking for.» — la abstención con que la acompaña: al historiador no le toca decidir si el místico encontró de verdad lo que buscaba.

«From a historical point of view, the mystical quest for the divine takes place almost exclusively within a prescribed tradition—the exceptions seem to be limited» — la restricción histórica que impone al asunto: la búsqueda mística ocurre casi siempre dentro de una tradición prescrita.

«Where such a tradition prevails, a religious authority, established long before the mystic was born, has been recognized by the community for many generations.» — cómo define la autoridad religiosa que el místico se encuentra puesta: reconocida por la comunidad desde mucho antes de que él naciera.

«The literary production of the Kabbalists, more intensive in certain periods than in others, has been stored up in an impressive number of books, many of them dating back to the late Middle Ages.» — describe el corpus del que habla: una producción desigual en el tiempo y guardada en un número considerable de libros.

«They were obliged to abandon nearly all their belongings; but one object many had been unwilling to part with was their copy of the Zohar, which they have continued to study to this day.» — el caso con que muestra que ese mundo no se ha extinguido del todo: los judíos del Yemen que no quisieron dejar atrás su ejemplar del Zohar.

«Ina long series of bibliographical studies, Scholem laid the basis for the modern bibliography of Kabbalah, building the structure for further descriptions of Kabbalistic literature. To a far greater extent than did Landauer, Steinschneider, and Jellinek, Scholem inspected an immense amount of manuscript material, enabling him to establish the authorship of a great number of Kabbalistic works.» — Moshe Idel le acredita haber puesto la base de la bibliografía moderna de la cábala y haber inspeccionado una cantidad inmensa de manuscritos; el troceo imprime Ina por In a.

«Scholem approached Kabbalah as a religious phenomenon, more than either his predecessors or his successors did, and he attempted to describe it historically as well as phenomenologically. Therefore, he can be considered the founder of the phenomenology of Kabbalah.» — el tercer logro que Idel le acredita: tratar la cábala como fenómeno religioso y describirla histórica y fenomenológicamente.

«Last, Scholem, like Franck, regarded Kabbalah as a vital part of the Jewish religion, emphasizing its centrality for a proper understanding of its evolution. His emphasis upon the pluralism of Jewish thought enabled him to integrate within it Kabbalah and its offshoot, Sabbatianism. In his view, Judaism is whatever a given generation of Jews evolves as its expression.» — Idel consigna lo que Scholem tiene en común con Franck: la cábala como parte vital de la religión judía y su centralidad para entender la evolución de esta.

«Great efforts to peruse this literature were made by Scholem, who, from the 1930s, roamed tirelessly through the libraries of Europe to this end.» — lo que Idel le reconoce en el terreno del manuscrito: recorrer sin descanso las bibliotecas de Europa desde los años treinta.

«Extraordinarily successful as Scholem was as a historian of mystical texts and ideas, he was, in his own eyes, rather a failure qua mystic, yet one who longed for mystical experience.» — el contraste con que Idel cierra el retrato: gran historiador de textos e ideas místicas y, a sus propios ojos, un fracaso como místico.

«If one wishes, Scholem may be considered as a theoretical mystic or a mystic in theory, as well as a theorist of Kabbalah.» — la fórmula que Idel ofrece para él, condicionada.

«Was he of the same opinion regarding the inadequacy of these approaches to attain the metaphysical core of the Kabbalah? Scholem seems to have left no decisive answer.» — la pregunta que Idel deja abierta sobre él, y su abstención expresa.

«Scholem’s critique of the negative evaluation of Kabbalah in the writings of such representatives of the Wissenschaft des Judéntums’© as Steinschneider and Graetz, although justified, is nevertheless partial.» — la objeción de Idel con su matiz: la crítica de Scholem a la Wissenschaft des Judentums es justificada pero parcial.

«In general, however, the attitude toward Kabbalah on the part of some of the nineteenth-century Jewish scholars is much more sympathetic than one might deduce from the way Scholem presents them.» — el desacuerdo de fondo que Idel plantea: la actitud decimonónica hacia la cábala fue más simpatética de lo que se deduce de la presentación de Scholem.

«This bias was partially accepted by modern scholars, including Scholem, who overstressed the importance of the speculative over the mystical;» — el cargo que Idel le dirige por su nombre, con su matiz: aceptó parcialmente ese sesgo y sobreacentuó lo especulativo sobre lo místico.

«This fact, which deserves to be highlighted, stands in contrast to the basically conformist tendency characteristic of the academic study of Kabbalah following the crystallization of Scholem’s theories on the evolution of Jewish mysticism.» — el diagnóstico con que Idel cierra: tendencia básicamente conformista en el estudio académico de la cábala tras cristalizar las teorías de Scholem.

«A striking lack of novel theories of the nature of Jewish mysticism that differ from those of Scholem is the result of this limited scope.» — el efecto que Idel le adjudica a ese alcance limitado.

«Far more than in other fields, we encounter references to the view of the Kabbalah that are based solely upon Scholem’s own assertions.» — la medición con que Idel plantea el problema: en los estudios comparativos las referencias a la cábala se apoyan solo en las afirmaciones de Scholem.

«This concentration on texts and Kabbalistic figures, rather than on concepts and systems, was from the outset Scholem’s approach.» — a quién atribuye Idel esa concentración en textos y figuras antes que en conceptos y sistemas.

«We find no more than passing remarks on Gnostic, Catharic, or Christian sources in Scholem’s works.» — la medición que Idel hace del resultado en las fuentes gnósticas, cátaras y cristianas.

«More than any other statements of Scholem, his assertion that unio mystica is absent in Jewish mysticism has been repeated by scholars of general mysticism.» — cuál es, según Idel, la tesis suya más repetida fuera del campo.

«Again, Scholem avoided the use of psychological theories or concepts.» — lo que Idel le señala también en ese punto.

«Scholem’s theory of the emergence of Kabbalah in Provence was based on the assumption that this religious phenomenon was the result of the merger of older Gnostic motifs or traditions with Neoplatonic philosophy.» — cómo resume Idel su teoría sobre el nacimiento de la cábala en Provenza.

«This assumption was never substantiated by a separate study of the topic as such, although Scholem did eventually refer to what he considered to be parallels between early Kabbalistic material, mostly in Sefer ha-Bahir, and Gnostic motifs.» — la objeción de Idel: ese supuesto nunca se sustanció en un estudio propio.

«To illustrate: Scholem spent years collecting every piece of evidence concerning the various stages of the Sabbatian movement, focusing on every historical detail regarding the lives of Sabbatai Sevi and Nathan of Gaza, whereas, in contrast, influential works of such central mystical figures as R. Moses Hayyim Luzzato or R. Nahman of Bratslav were only rarely mentioned by Scholem.» — el ejemplo con que Idel mide la desigualdad interna de su obra: años sobre cada detalle del sabatianismo frente a Luzzato o Nahman de Bratslav apenas nombrados.

«Thus, Scholem’s discusssion of the meaning of the Torah and Kabbalistic hermeneutics omits certain ideas found in Abulafia’s works that are indispensable to a full description of the subject.» — el caso concreto que Idel señala sobre el sentido de la Torá; el facsímil imprime discusssion.

«The very fact that a substantial number of the quotations cited in the following discussions stem from manuscript sources illustrates the need to return to the path opened by Scholem and explore available manuscripts before attempting more general discussions of the nature of Kabbalah.» — el argumento que Idel deriva de sus propias fuentes manuscritas.

«But the exploration of new material is not the only, or even the most important, object of this proposed return to neglected manuscripts. Even a rereading of texts studied by Scholem may yield interesting new findings; newly discovered manuscripts may offer better readings that will alter conclusions based upon inferior versions, and the study of the context of some quotations cited by Scholem may at times foster different interpretations.» — lo que Idel espera de releer lo que Scholem ya estudió: lecturas mejores que alteren conclusiones apoyadas en versiones inferiores.

«But Scholem has made things a bit too easy for himself by failing to suggest an alternative and instead contenting himself with the emphatic statement: “I, for one, do not intend to employ a terminology [such as used by Jones] which obscures the very real differences [between “religion” and “mysticism”] that are recognized by all, and thereby makes it even more difficult to get at the root of the problem.» — Peter Schäfer le objeta haberse puesto las cosas demasiado fáciles al no proponer una alternativa terminológica.

«Second, Scholem distinguishes between “Jewish mysticism” and “Kabbalah”: Jewish mysticism begins in antiquity, but it somehow “crystallizes” in what is called “Kabbalah” in the Middle Ages. “Kabbalah” seems to be the epitome of Jewish mysticism, but Scholem does not bother to explain why the manifestation of mysticism before the Kabbalah is just “mysticism” and mysticism’s medieval strand “Kabbalah” proper — yet he nevertheless calls his book Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism.» — Schäfer consigna la distinción que él hace entre mística judía y cábala, y le objeta no explicar por qué lo anterior es solo mística.

«So all that in fact remains of Scholem’s three stages of the first phase is just the third and last stage.» — el saldo que Schäfer hace de esa taxonomía.

«This result is highly unsatisfactory, and scholars after Scholem have tried to fill the gaps.» — Schäfer califica ese saldo y sitúa ahí el trabajo de los estudiosos posteriores.

«Much as I agree with Orlov’s last sentence, I am at a loss with regard to his main critique. True, research on the Hekhalot literature and Merkavah mysticism has made some progress over the last twenty-five years or so, but I, for one, did not embark on a study of the Hekhalot literature in order to prove Scholem wrong and to demonstrate that the concepts and imagery of the Hekhalot traditions were distinct from those of the apocalypses» — Schäfer declara que no emprendió su estudio para llevarle la contraria.

«it soon became clear that the gap in Scholem’s presentation of the three stages of Merkavah mysticism was even larger than Scholem could have known when he wrote his Major Trends: still undiscovered were the Dead Sea Scrolls, which contain a number of texts — in particular the Hodayot (Thanksgiving Scroll) and the text that is now labeled Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice — that, as scholars immediately observed, bear a striking resemblance to the Hekhalot literature.» — Schäfer consigna el hueco que Scholem no podía conocer al escribir Major Trends: los rollos del Mar Muerto estaban por descubrir.

«Gershom G. Scholem, the pioneer of critical study of the Hekhalot literature in the twentieth century, saw the ascent traditions as the central theme of the Hekhalot literature, with the adjurations and rituals preparatory to them, and the aim of the ascent to achieve a direct vision of God.» — James Davila lo llama pionero del estudio crítico de la literatura de Hekhalot en el siglo XX y resume su posición.

«Scholem accepted that actual practitioners made use of the rituals in the Hekhalot texts and that the descriptions of the ascents and angelic encounters on some level reflected experiences that arose from these practices.» — Davila consigna lo que Scholem aceptaba: que hubo practicantes reales de esos ritos y que las descripciones reflejan en algún nivel sus experiencias.

«A key question is whether the Palestinian rabbinic traditions of the Tannaitic era knew any early forms of the Hekhalot traditions. We have seen that Scholem took it that the Tannaitic references to ma#aseh merkavah referred to just such traditions, but Halperin challenged this position, arguing that the Hekhalot traditions evolved in response to third-century exegetical homiletics developed in Palestinian Shavuot sermons.» — Davila consigna la objeción de Halperin a su lectura de las referencias tannaíticas al maaseh merkavah.

«Since he sees no evidence that the Hekhalot literature borrowed from any form of Christianity, Scholem argues that the ChristianGnosticsandtheHekhalottraditionsdrewindependentlyonearlier pagan rites.» — cómo explica Scholem, según Davila, el paralelo con lo gnóstico cristiano sin dependencia; el troceo imprime las palabras pegadas.

«This work is untitled, both at its beginning and at its end, in all manuscripts. Since it is quoted by Eleazar of Worms with the title Ma#aseh Merkavah, Scholem published it under this title, but with full knowledge that phrase was a generic term for Hekhalot texts, since they deal with the workings of Ezekiel’s throne-chariot vision, and that it was applied to many such texts.» — lo que Davila consigna de su edición del Ma#aseh Merkavah: publicó bajo ese título con plena conciencia de que era genérico.

«For a long time, the study of Jewish mysticism was dominated by the imposing figure of a patriarch, Gershom Scholem (18971982).» — Ioan Couliano lo sitúa como figura dominante del campo durante mucho tiempo.

«The conclusion that can be drawn from this remark is that Scholem was not strictly a scholar of mysticism.» — y matiza: era historiador antes que estudioso de la mística.

«Noticing analogies between Gnosticism and early Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem holds that the latter is derived from the former; he therefore calls merkabah mysticism "Jewish Gnosticism."» — Couliano expone su tesis sobre el gnosticismo judío.

«Obviously, Scholem is wrong on one point only: far from being Gnostic in themselves, all of the above-mentioned motifs are already present in Hellenistic magic, from which, it is legitimate to assume, both Jewish mystics and Gnostics borrowed.» — Couliano lo objeta por la vía de la magia helenística, fuente común de gnósticos y místicos.

«Moshe Idel has provided breathtaking new descriptions of actual mystical techniques used by the Kabbalists, some of which Gershom Scholem had only mentioned en passant, if at all, in his work, The Major Trends efJewish Mysticism.» — Couliano contrasta la omisión de lo técnico en su obra con las descripciones de Moshe Idel.

«Scholem is therefore best interpreted as a scholar who felt the temptation of religionism but resisted it, explicitly and largely successfully.» — Wouter Hanegraaff lo adjudica con el matiz dentro: sintió la tentación del religionismo y la resistió, explícitamente y en buena medida con éxito.

«But whereas colleagues with Christian backgrounds like Corbin or Eliade saw historical existence as a prison or nightmare and “historicism” as the enemy, for a Zionist Jew like Scholem such an attitude was impossible.» — Hanegraaff contrapone su posición a la de Corbin y Eliade, que veían la existencia histórica como prisión o pesadilla.

«In short, Scholem saw Jewish “esotericism” as an eruption of mythical consciousness into the historical consciousness of rabbinic Judaism, triggered by contact with non-Jewish sources.» — Hanegraaff resume su lectura del esoterismo judío.

«As pointed out by Steven Wasserstrom, in Scholem’s writings and, much more extremely, those of Corbin, the “esoteric” dimensions were promoted from a position of marginality to one of centrality with Judaism and Islam, at the expense of the purely doctrinal, legalistic, and other “exoteric” dimensions that have in fact dominated much of the beliefs and practices of ordinary Jews and Muslims.» — Hanegraaff recoge de Steven Wasserstrom el reproche a él y, mucho más, a Corbin: haber promovido lo esotérico de la marginalidad a la centralidad.

«Scholem took the trouble to read everything that occultists (Eliphas L´evi, Blavatsky, de Guaita, Papus, Saint-Yves d’Alveydre, Waite, Westcott, Crowley, Regardie, Pullen-Burry, MacGregor Mathers, Steiner) had to say about “kabbala.” Usually the verdict was negative, as shown by his many marginal notes» — Hanegraaff consigna que leyó a doce ocultistas sobre la cábala y que el veredicto solía ser negativo, según sus notas marginales.

«Gershom Scholem has suggested that behind the so-called Stanza's of Dzyan stands the Zoharic text Sifra Di-Tseniutah170, which she probably knew from the Latin translation in Knorr von Rosenroth's famous Kabbala Denudata (1677-1684)» — Wouter Hanegraaff consigna lo que Scholem propuso sobre las Estancias de Dzyan de Blavatsky.

«Scholem seems to have been too quick, however, in concluding that 'The Book Dzyan is therefore nothing but an occultistic hypostasy of the Zoharic title'» — y dónde a su juicio se apresuró.

«It should be noted, however, that many scholars who were invited to the Eranos conferences did not share the religious attitude exemplified by Jung. Looking back on his participation in the conferences, Gershom Scholem admits that many of the lecturers opted for a somewhat uneasy compromise between their own scholarly approach and the appearance of religious commitment expected of them by Olga Froebe.» — Hanegraaff recoge la admisión de Scholem sobre los conferenciantes de Eranos.

«Gershom Scholem, who has written the definitive study of Shabbetai and Shabbateanism» — Karen Armstrong lo nombra en el cuerpo como su fuente única para lo luriánico y lo shabbateano.

«Scholem’s theory has been disputed, and cannot be proved definitively one way or the other,» — Armstrong consigna la disputa sobre su tesis de los shabbateanos ocultos y se abstiene; lo dice como abstención expresa.

«Buber revealed the richness of Hasidism and Scholem explored the world of the Kabbalah» — Armstrong reparte el trabajo de los dos: Buber el jasidismo, Scholem el mundo de la cábala.