Gerhard Scholem who, after his immigration from Germany to Israel, changed

his name to Gershom Scholem (Hebrew: ( ) December 5, 1897

February 21, 1982), was a German-born Israeli philosopher and historian. He is
widely regarded as the founder of the modern, academic study of Kabbalah,
becoming the first Professor of Jewish Mysticism at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.[1] His close friends included Walter Benjamin and Leo Strauss, and
selected letters from his correspondence with those philosophers have been
published.

Scholem is best known for his collection of lectures, Major Trends in Jewish
Mysticism (1941) and for his biography Sabbatai Zevi, the Mystical Messiah
(1957). His collected speeches and essays, published as On Kabbalah and its
Symbolism (1965), helped to spread knowledge of Jewish mysticism among nonJews.