Scienceגרשם שלום

Gershom Scholem

Gershom Scholem was a German-born scholar who became the first professor of Jewish mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and founded the modern academic study of the Kabbalah.

1897 to 1982Academic study of the KabbalahResearch on SabbateanismFriendship with Walter BenjaminThe Scholem collection

Born: 5 December 1897, Berlin
Died: 21 February 1982, Jerusalem
Occupation: philosopher, librarian, historian, pedagogue
Education: LMU Munich, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Founded: Scholem collection (1915)

Gershom Scholem was born in 1897 in Berlin

Scholem was born Gerhard Scholem in Berlin in 1897 to Arthur and Betty Scholem, an assimilated family. His father owned a printing house. His brother Werner was a Communist member of the Reichstag who was later murdered by the Nazis.

Against his family's ways, he was drawn to Judaism and Zionism and studied Hebrew and Talmud from a young age. In 1915 he met Walter Benjamin, who became a lifelong friend. He studied mathematics, philosophy and Hebrew in Berlin and wrote his doctorate in Munich on Sefer ha-Bahir.

In 1923 he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine and headed the Hebrew and Judaica department of the National Library. In 1933 he became professor of Jewish mysticism at the Hebrew University, a post he held until he retired in 1965. His works include a lecture series on major trends in Jewish mysticism and a study of Sabbatai Zevi, and some of his views on Hasidism and Sabbateanism caused dispute.

In 1946 the Hebrew University sent him to Europe to recover Jewish books looted by the Nazis. He was a member of Brit Shalom. He died in Jerusalem in 1982, and his library went to the National Library.