Gershom Scholem, R. J. Zwi Werblowsky (translator) · 1957 · EPUB · Calibre ID 7651
Resurfaced in The Day After His Arrival (2026-10-22).
Role in the triad
The anchor and the historian’s case: three disconfirmations (imprisonment, apostasy, death) each turned into doctrine; explicit parallel with Paul and early Christianity.
Why this book
The best-documented case of a faith surviving refutation of its central claim; Scholem himself invokes Renan and Paul, which brings in Schweitzer. Duplicate record: 5724. Hebrew 1957; English 1973; Princeton Classics 2016. Pages are print pages embedded in the EPUB.
Quotations
Verified against the book’s own text on the day of the reading.
- “To believe in an apostate messiah was to build one’s hope on foundations of paradox and absurdity, which could only lead to more paradoxes.” (p. 690) | “The Sabbatian paradox, however, was not that of a saint who suffers and whose suffering is a mystery hidden with God, but of a saint who sins.” (p. 691) | “adopt the dress of the people through whose land he passes, and to behave as they do, lest they notice that he is a spy” (p. 802) | “Readers of Paul’s letters can learn a great deal from these later Jewish writings, composed in a very similar psychological situation.” (p. 803) | “And finally he [that is, the messiah] will restore [to holiness] his qelippah which is Jesus Christ.” (p. 285) | “Neither Our Lord nor anything else was in the cave, but it was full of light.” (p. 920) | “Return every man to his house. How long will you hold fast to me?” (p. 917) | “Enthusiasm and love know of no hopeless situations. They play with the impossible, and rather than despair, they violate reality.” (Renan, quoted p. 689)
Themes
apostasy · Dulcigno · holy ruse · Nathan of Gaza · occultation · paradox · Paul · qelippah · Renan · Sabbatianism · tiqqun