A richly detailed account of the only messianic movement ever to engulf the entire Jewish world. The twentieth century produced a galaxy of extraordinary Jewish historians. Gershom Scholem stands out among them for the richness and power of his historical imagination. Born in Berlin in 1897; Scholem became a Zionist as a young student in a revolt against his family's bourgeois and assimilated life. He learned Hebrew and studied Kabbalah; the world of mystical teachings that had become marginalized--indeed stigmatized--within the mainstream rationalist Jewish tradition. In 1923; Scholem emigrated to Palestine and eventually joined the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; publishing groundbreaking studies in the field of Jewish mysticism. In the 1930s; Scholem's scholarship turned to an obscure kabbalist rabbi of seventeenth-century Turkey; Sabbatai ?evi; who aroused a fervent following that spread over the Jewish world after he declared himself to be the Messiah. The movement suffered a severe blow when ?evi was forced to convert to Islam; but a clandestine sect survived. A Bollingen Foundation grant enabled Scholem to complete the original Hebrew edition of his biography in 1957. Bollingen also supported R. J. Zwi Werblowsky's masterful English translation. A monumental and revisionary work of Jewish historiography; Sabbatai ?evi stands out for its combination of philological and empirical authority and for its passion. It is widely esteemed as one of Scholem's masterworks. The author himself always regarded the Princeton/Bollingen edition as a highlight of his scholarship.
#84964 in Books Perl; Lila/ Lazan; Marion Blumenthal 1996-03-21 1996-03-21Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .61 x 6.00l; .72 #File Name: 068814294X144 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A family's triumph over catastropheBy natThis is the inspiring story of a Jewish family of four; including two young children; who were able to remain together throughout the worst horrors of the Holocaust; including a year-long stay in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen where they endured starvation; rampant disease; and intense brutality. Although finally liberated by the Russians; the father died of camp-related typhus; leaving the mother and two children to struggle to find a new life for themselves in America. Their perseverance and determination led to eventual success. This family was able to triumph over the most brutal conditions encountered in human history and to establish new; productive; stable; and happy lives in the aftermath of catastrophe.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy Kathleen S.It was a good book; would read a second time0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy Frankiegood reading
