Bibliographia Kabbalistica

...in order to enable completeness checks. Almost all major Judaic bibliographies fail completely for such purposes, as every user knows from painful experience. Through the energetic support I have received from many sides, I was also able to obtain accurate and reliable information about many works that were not available in Jerusalem Gershom Scholem moved to Jerusalem in 1923 to work at the National Library, which explains the geographic context of his research. In individual cases, many additions are still possible and desirable through personal inspection original: "Autopsie"; in bibliography, this refers to the physical examination of a book by the researcher.

The previous research I was able to use was only practical and valuable where it concerned smaller sections of the overall field of Jewish mysticism. This applies to the information provided by Wolf in the Hebrew Library original: Bibliotheca Hebraea; a monumental four-volume bibliography by Johann Christoph Wolf published 1715–1733 Volumes II and IV for the older period up to approximately 1725, which I have endeavored to complete and correct in many details. It also applies to the references by Schwab in his Index of Articles original: Répertoire des articles; a reference work by Moïse Schwab indexing Jewish scholarly articles from the 19th century, and above all, the very valuable references to Russian works—specifically regarding Hasidism term: Hasidism; a Jewish spiritual and mystical movement that arose in 18th-century Eastern Europe—which are given in the Systematic Register of Literature about Jews in the Russian Language from 1708–1889 original: Sistemičeskij ukazatel literatury o Jevrejach, published as a supplement to the journal The Sunrise original: Woschod. Bibliographies in encyclopedia articles offered very little material, especially for more obscure literature.

For the specific purpose pursued here, the large bibliography by Caillet on the entire field of occultism offered extremely little that was useful. Even less was found in the completely useless, allegedly "only" special bibliography of the Kabbalah by Papus original: Gérard Encausse, known as Papus (1865–1916), a famous French physician and occultist who popularized a version of Kabbalah that Scholem found historically inaccurate (Entry No. 894). These two French occultists, like their entire school, associate the word Kabbalah original: Cabbale with such a broad meaning that the writings they label as Kabbalistic—journal articles are entirely missing here, as is the entire literature on Hasidism—deal with almost everything except Jewish mysticism. Where Maimonides term: Maimonides (1138–1204); the preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and rationalist. Scholem is mocking the occultists for labeling a rationalist philosopher as a "great Kabbalist" is regarded as a "great Kabbalist" and the Mishnah and Talmud term: Mishnah and Talmud; the foundational legal and theological texts of Rabbinic Judaism are classified among Kabbalistic writings, little instruction can be hoped for or found in this area. All details in the work of Papus are, moreover, of grotesque inaccuracy and unreliability. Works written in Hebrew are completely missing in both authors' works.

Finally, the catalogs of second-hand bookstores—especially those of occultist bookshops—form a source of literature on the Kabbalah that is not without danger, but nonetheless indispensable. In many cases, they have been of significant use to me through indirect hints. These sources also generally excel in nothing less than reliability, particularly as a result of their consistent...