Gershom Gerhard Scholem was a historian of religions and philologist born in Berlin on December 5, 1897, and died in Jerusalem on February 21, 1982. He is universally recognized as the leading modern expert on Jewish mysticism, particularly Kabbalah. Scholem played a major role in establishing the study of Jewish mysticism as a serious academic discipline, beyond its traditionally marginal status.
Coming from an assimilated Jewish family, he learned Hebrew and the Talmud in his youth, then studied philosophy, Semitic languages, and religion in Berlin, Jena, Bern, and Munich. In 1922, he defended a thesis on an ancient Kabbalistic text, Sefer ha-Bahir.
In 1923, he emigrated to Mandatory Palestine and became a librarian, then a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he taught the history and philosophy of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah starting in 1925. He held this chair for decades and helped found the modern study of these traditions.
